


NieR: [O]blivion

by Catch358



Category: Kingdom Hearts, NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Crossover, Developing Friendships, Male-Female Friendship, Post-Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2020-05-12 18:45:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 148,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19234966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catch358/pseuds/Catch358
Summary: After the events of kh3, Sora finds himself in the world of NieR: Automata. He meets A2 and decides to help her on her mission to destroy the machines, hoping she might be the answer to finding his way back home to his friends. However, when Sora gets wrapped up in the war between androids and machines, he realizes going back home might be harder than he thought.





	1. What Doesn't [K]ill You

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Disney, or anything associated with it. Anyways, enjoy~
> 
> 'YoRHa'=thoughts
> 
> YoRHa= Narration

一

_They can take your world._

_They can take your heart._

_Cut you loose from all you know._

_But if it's your fate..._

_Then every step forward,_

_Will always be a step closer to_ _**Oblivion** _

* * *

"..."

"..."

"...Kairi."

Sora jolted awake and was greeted by the empty, lifeless face of a small machine staring down at him with its beady yellow eyes. Sora didn't think much of the little robot until he realized there was blood running down his legs and staining the metal exterior of the machine like paint blotches.

"The heartless just don't give up!" Summoning his keyblade, Sora impaled the machine and it toppled over on the ground, short-circuiting from the impact. ' _Huh, that's not how heartless go out, was it actually a robot?'_

Shielding his eyes from the bright sun, he looked around. "What...where am I?" There were dozens of decaying skyscrapers scattered throughout the land like a graveyard. Massive trees wrapped and entangled the skyscrapers and huge animals walked across the land, drawing near thin pools of water and resting under infrastructure long fallen apart.

"It looks like I'm in what used to be a city." Sora wanted to go back to sleep, thinking it to be no more than a bad dream, but that pain felt too sharp, the blood felt too wet on his skin, and he couldn't rest not knowing where he was.

"Ummmm...the last thing I remember was using the power of waking to save...oh no, Kairi! She's probably freaking out right now! I have to get out of this world!" Sora felt a stinging pain shoot through his legs when he stood up.

"Tch, nothing I can't handle!" He cast cure on his legs, then kept going. ' _I have to get back home to Destiny Islands to see everyone again!'_

Sora aimlessly stumbled across the barren city, hoping to find someone who could help him, or at least tell him where he was, but there didn't appear to be another sentient soul around him for miles, save for the occasional oversized moose or boar.

Eventually, his legs wore him down enough to take refuge inside of an empty building. "Let's see...giant city, killer robots and no one in sight. It's like I'm in one of those sci-fi movies, just missing the alien invasion." He chuckled to himself, thinking that making light of his situation would alleviate the crushing feeling of isolation. "Still...I mean, I can't be alone, can I?"

"一AAAAAAAH! STOP! PLEASE, DON'T DO THIS!"

' _Is it bad that I'm happy to hear another voice, even if it is one screaming for help?'_ Sora instinctively drew his keyblade and followed the cry for help. When he reached the location of the voice, he expected to swoop in, keyblade in hand and bash as many robot heads as he needed to save the day. However, he couldn't be more wrong. Instead, Sora encountered two young women dressed in all black, gothic attire with blindfolds masking their eyes. The cry for help came from one of the women being stabbed to death by the other with a sharp, slender sword.

His first impulse was to jump out and save the woman being ruthlessly stabbed, but he hesitantly decided to stay hidden, at least for a moment. ' _Hold on, what did Donald always tell me? Don't interfere with the affairs of other worlds.'_

"一You don't have to do this! Please...don't kill me..."

"You brought this on yourself, deserter! Don't ever turn your back on humanity!"

' _Well he's not here to stop me.'_ Sora came from behind and whacked his keyblade on the back of the murderess.

*CLANK

"Huh?" His keyblade was still vibrating from his attack. "That...wasn't supposed to happen."

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" The woman pointed her bloody sword in Sora's face.

"If you're not affiliated with the affairs of this android unit, don't interfere with the execution of Unit 7B. Otherwise, you can be next on the list..." She glanced over to the woman on the ground. "Actually, it looks like my job here is done. Now out of my way before I report you to command."

"What're you doing this for?!" Sora demanded.

"...That's none of your business." She pushed Sora to the side and returned her stained sword to the manipulator field on her back, then she was gone.

Sora wasted no time in attending to the woman lying on the ground, a thin pool of blood slowly poured out of her. "Don't worry, I can help you." He cast cure over the stab wounds.

"Thank you... but the...the only way you can help me is if you upload my black box data to the ...bunker. But you can't do that, can't you? You're not...YoRHa."

"What're you talking about?!" It finally dawned upon him that there were wires and cables protruding out of the stab wounds and electrical sparks erupting from various crevices of her body. "Wh-What's going on, are you a robot too?!"

"A robot...that's a new one. I'm an android, like you."

"An...Android?" He shook his head. "You've lost way too much blood, just tell me what I can do to help you!"

"I already told you...weren't you listening?"

"I'm not an android and I don't know what a black box is! Come on, there has to be something else I can do, so don't die on me!"

"...you sound human." She caressed his cheek and a smile spread across her face. "Maybe you are one." Her arm fell down and whatever life she had withered away into nothingness.

Sora stared at the lifeless corpse in disbelief. "Fine, but I won't let you die even if you want to give up!" He grabbed the sides of her body and dragged her across the grass, leaving a bloody trail on the ground. ' _I don't even know where I'm going. How can I save her when I can barely save myself- no, I can't think about that right now. I'll keep going until I find someone who can help her!'_

Just his luck, Sora ran into several more machines who weren't particularly happy to see him. A few of them were equipped with guns, others with buzzsaws or short swords. "Out of my way!" He summoned his keyblade, ready to throw himself at the machines, only for them to get chopped in half by a swift sword slash.

Sora gawked at the woman who came to his rescue. Unlike the others, she'd definitely seen better days, with badges of scratches and dirt smudges marking her body.

' _Is she another android too?'_

White, wiry hair fell down to her back and when A2 turned around to get a good look at who she saved, she made a face at him halfway between contempt and disregard as if Sora was a bug she narrowly missed stomping on. ' _What a stupid-looking kid, but the stupid ones are usually the first to die off.'_

"一Maybe don't leave a blood trail so the machines can't track you down easily," She remarked coldly before adding, "And what're you doing carrying a corpse around?"

"I have this annoying part of me that has to save everyone, even if I don't know them. I...I thought I could save her at least."

' _He's_  s _tupid and naive, definitely won't last long out here._ ' "...I see. Hate to break it to you, but she's already dead."

"Oh..." He clenched his fists. "...thanks for saving me from those robots at least."

"You have nothing to thank me for, you just happened to get in the way of my killing spree. Now get lost before more show up."

"I'm way ahead of you on that one, I have no idea where I am."

"Yeah, I can tell."

"So then maybe you could tell me a little bit about this place! I don't really know why I'm here and ...and I don't know how to get back home."

"Look kid, the Resistance Camp isn't too far from here and they'll be able to help you find whatever rock you lived under far better than I ever could." She turned back around to continue her hunt for machines.

"Well, aren't you  _sooo_  nice! I guess being friendly doesn't run in your code, huh!" Sora shot back.

Dismissive of his petty insult A2 kept walking.

"Fine! What's the problem with you androids anyway? Why would you kill your own kind like that, I thought being androids meant you guys were一"

A2 stopped dead in her tracks, she stomped over to Sora, then snatched him by the shirt collar. "Shut your mouth or I'll chop your goddamn head right off! You're just a regular android, you don't know anything about YoRHa!"

"For the last time, I'm not an android!"

"What do you mean you're not an android? You're either an android or...you're a machine." The way she said machine with such pure disgust sent a shiver down Sora's spine, even though he knew he wasn't made of cables and wires, he felt sorry for any machine that had the misfortune to cross paths with her.

Growing frustrated, A2 shook Sora back and forth, secretly wishing he was a machine so she could smack that dopey look right off his face. "Start making sense before I cut you down! What are you, machine or android? Or do you want  _me_  to decide?!"

"I'm not an android or a machine, I'm a human!"

"...A human? Your ass should be on the moon, you're lying, aren't you?!"

"I'm not lying, I am a human! If I weren't, I could've saved that other android! Don't you get it?! I'm not from here, I'm not from this world!"

A2 lowered Sora to the ground, then pinched his cheek as curiosity got the best of her. ' _His layer of synthetic skin is so thick and malleable, and I don't feel his endoskeleton anywhere. Could he be one of those newer models I keep hearing about? But these features are so useless for battle.'_

"OW! Will you stop that already?" Sora swatted her hand away.

"You can't really be...but...an android would never call themselves human unless they lost their mind." A2's eyes fixated on Sora for the longest time until her logic processor finally put the pieces together. "...no, I can't believe it. A weakling like you...you're supposed to be one of the humans we're programmed to 'love' and 'protect'?!"

"Yeah...you got a problem with that?!"

She snorted. "What do you want me to do now, human? Bow down and kiss your ass, like I'll ever do that!"

"What the...what're you talking about?!"

"Good one. We're the ones modeled after you, so why don't you tell me?"

"I don't know what the deal is with your world, but I'm no one special, and I'm definitely not special for being human! Listen, I don't have anywhere else to go so...so let me help you fight those machines since they're causing you this much trouble!"

"Great, now you wanna help me?"

"You saved my life and I want to repay the favor! Who knows, maybe I'll even find a way back home following you around, so ... what do you say?"

Despite being created to be alike to humans in every way, A2 realized how much she didn't understand them and the vast rift that separated humans and androids from each other. She couldn't bear to look at him and his pleading eyes, so she left with little explanation for her actions. "...sorry, but I travel alone. I'm sure some other android would love to dissect you though."

"...but they're not like you." Sora let out a sigh and went the other direction, his legs still stung, but nothing hurt worse than the sinking feeling devouring his heart. "She said to head to the resistance camp, too bad I have no idea where that is! This world is gigantic and I'm getting really hungry walking around everywhere." He clenched his growling stomach, the thought of food only made him think back to his previous adventure. While there were no five-star restaurants nearby, there were giant animals roaming around which he would simply have to make do with.

 _'Looks like there's a boar near that bridge.'_ Sora took cover behind a shrub and spied on the boar who was in the middle of munching on overgrown grass.  _'I don't remember boars being so friggin huge! I never caught anything bigger than a rabbit, but there's a first time for everything, right?'_

He waited until the boar was completely unsuspecting of any potential predators, then jumped out of the bushes, keyblade in hand. "Let's do this, blizzard!" The shot landed perfectly and the boar was frozen to the ground. "Alright, I still got it!"

Just as he was about to run over and finish the job, a colossal machine stood in the way between him and a plate of fire-roasted pork. "Out of my way!" Sora swung his keyblade full force at the mountain of metal, however, he barely made a dent in the exterior shell. With the Goliath machine swinging its heavy arms right at him, he had no choice, but to fall back instead of tactlessly hacking away at it as per usual.

' _What? I could've easily cut that thing down, don't tell me I lost all my power again.'_  Sora clenched the handle of the kingdom key. ' _This is the only keyblade in my arsenal right now so I'll have to keep going until I find a weak point.'_

Sora ran back to the Goliath machine, circling around and whacking his keyblade at various points of its body in an attempt to find such weakness, but it had the same consistency of solid iron no matter where he hit it. ' _This one's tough, let's try some magic!'_ "Thunder!" A dark cloud swirled over the machine's head and a powerful bolt of lightning ripped through the machine down to its core.

The red light emitting from the Goliath machine's eyes flickered out and it powered down, falling into a kneeling position. ' _I don't know if that actually did anything, but I have to take this chance!'_ Reeling his keyblade back, Sora charged at the machine, not expecting for it to instantaneously power back on, pluck him right off the ground and throw him up in the air.

Most of all, Sora definitely didn't expect for A2 to catch him in her arms just in time so he wouldn't get crushed by the machine's hand. "You...came back?" He mumbled.

"Shut up." After setting Sora down, A2 uploaded an impossibly large, flat edge sword with chains wrapped around the hilt from her NFCS database. She swung it around with ease, taunting the machine, before going in for the kill and slicing one of its arms off in a clean blow.

Without a moment's hesitation, the Goliath machine rocketed its other arm at A2, but Sora used a blizzard spell to freeze its arm to the ground where he subsequently severed the arm from its body.

"I didn't ask for your help, kid!" A2 barked.

"You don't have to!" Sora returned with a cheeky smile that pissed A2 off even more.

Lacking any arms for melee attacks, the Goliath machine reverted to a sedentary position and it shot a barrage of spherical projectiles their way. "Now what do we do? What are those things?!" Sora yelled.

"Get out of the damn way!" A2 yanked Sora's jacket hood and he narrowly missed finding out exactly what those projectiles were. "Wanna fight so much, then pay attention!"

"Yeah, yeah, I've had my fair share of fighting experience too!" Disregarding A2's warning, Sora got as close as he could to the machine, then threw his keyblade like a dagger directly at the mechanism that was shooting at them.

Luckily, the direct hit was enough to backfire the projectile system and A2 gave the machine one last slash through its body to put it out of its misery for good. An explosive death marked the end of its existence and the once Goliath machine was reduced to mere collectible parts suitable for a trash heap.

Sora turned to A2, a smile on his face. "Thanks for saving me again back there, you know we make a pretty good team!"

A2 looked away from him, silent.

"...I understand, you got other things to do, right? But it was nice meeting you!" He walked away while A2 stood still watching him slowly disappear into the City Ruins until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Wait, I'm not done with you yet!" A2 called out, she reluctantly followed after him.

"Yeah, what's up?" He asked.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...I...I'm A2, short for Attacker No. 2. I..." A2 couldn't believe what she was about to say since it went against everything she promised to give up from her old life, but there she was and to a human to add insult to injury. "I...I'll let you follow me and help me defeat every last machine on this planet. You'd die on your own, and ...and I can't let that happen so you're gonna follow me and do what I say! Is that clear?!"

Sora was grinning now. "Sounds good to me!" He offered her his hand. "My name's Sora!"

A2 stared at his hand, confused. "What, do you want something from me?"

"No-no, it's a thing friends do!"

"We're not friends," She shot down.

"Uh...had to give a shot at least."

"Whatever." She began walking away.

*grrrrrrrowl

"What is it now, another machine?"

*gurururu

"Shit, I think it's closing in on us. Keep a sharp eye out, kid!"

"..actually...that's me." He muttered

"What?" A2 turned her head around to see Sora clutching his stomach, his face turning bright red from embarrassment. "Are you sick or something?"

"No, I'm really hungry. I was actually hunting a giant boar before that machine showed up, too bad it's long gone from here..."

"You're...hungry? Oh right, humans have to do that stuff." She approached a pool of water, then stuck her sword in the water and pulled out a medium-sized mackerel fish just like that. "How's this, big enough for you?"

"Yeah, that's fine, thanks."

A2 dropped the slimy fish in Sora's hand. "Go on, eat."

"Uh...hold on."

A2 watched Sora collect some of the spare parts scattered from the Goliath machine that still had traces of oil on it and lit a small pile of machine guts on fire with his keyblade. After that, he stabbed the fish with a metal rod and held it over the fire where he sat down to wait for it to cook.

Too fed up for proper words, A2 went in for the three-prong attack of non-verbal communication; crossing her arms, impatiently tapping her heel on the ground and glaring at Sora. Telltale signs she would blow a fuse if he didn't offer an explanation for what she deemed to be an unnecessary waste of time.

"I can't eat it raw or I'll get sick." He elaborated.

"You humans are really freakin' annoying, you know that?" She finally said, leaning back on a rotted building.

"Hey! Some humans like raw fish, but I'm not one of them. I tried some sushi once and I was puking my guts out practically the whole day...ugh." He stuck his tongue in disgust, the memory still vivid in his mind.

"Didn't ask for your life story." ' _He has a weak stomach, but I guess I can't say much since eating fish will kill an android.'_

An uncomfortable silence dragged on between the two with the only sound being the sizzling noise from the fatty fish oil dripping on the open fire. Once it was scorched enough to Sora's liking, he chomped down on it like it was fine dining, then subsequently lamented on the fact he went from Sea Bass Poêlé to wild-caught mackerel in such a short period of time.

While Sora finished the last of his meal, A2 was deep in thought, or at least as deep as her memory processing component would allow her.  _'Me with a human? I thought I'd never live long enough to see the day and now everything that we androids die for is right here in front of me.'_  She had this gut-wrenching hatred for Sora, but at the same time, couldn't help but enjoy seeing that stupid smile on his face. It angered her enough to make her want to rip her circuits out because she couldn't process through what she was feeling.

It didn't take long for Sora to pick up on A2's intent staring, which he thought she simply wanted to talk to him, "What's up A2? You...look like you wanna kill me again," He said.

"Who said I didn't?!"

Sora gulped down on his fish. "Wait- seriously?"

"...no." She admitted in defeat.

"Well if we did get in a fight, I'm pretty sure I could mop the floor with you!"

A2 shot daggers in his direction.

"Er, that was a joke!" Sora rubbed the back of his head. "You'd totally stomp on me in a real fight."

"You're talking too much."

"Oh, sorry."

"...Look, I know a thing or two about how you humans work, but I don't know the specifics. So you're just gonna have to tell me about these things as we go, alright?"

"E-Everything?" He croaked.

"That's what I said, didn't I? Now let's get moving."

He got on his feet. "Where are we going?"

"I was on my way to the factory until you got in the way so that's where we're headed."

"Right behind you, A2!"

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Unconsciousness**


	2. Th[I]nking of You

"Let me get this straight, there's only androids and machines on Earth now?" Sora asked.

"Yeah."

"And I'm guessing you're not the only android who wants to destroy the machines."

"Yeah."

' _Then the machines are basically this world's version of heartless.'_ "Alright, I think I put it all together. Androids are humanity's last hope against the robot overlords and you guys are fighting to take Earth back for humans!"

"...Yeah."

Sora crossed his arms. "You know, you could say more than just 'yeah'."

"And you could keep your mouth shut for longer than five minutes. I thought a human would know why the androids and machines are fighting by now, but I guess you're just about as dumb as you look."

"Hey, take that 一"

A2 slapped her hand over Sora's mouth, then lowered him behind a rusty automobile. They reached a collapsed bridge that was leveled by the forces of nature and it served as the last stretch of land before the Abandoned Factory. However, having long been fine-tuned to the subtle mechanical noise machines made, A2 noticed the road was crawling with machines wielding various weapons from short swords to arm blasters.

"Probably not the best idea to go running in when we're outnumbered," A2 said.

"Good point, so what's your plan?"

"I'm...working on it."

"Well I have an idea, I can attack a large group of enemies at once with my magic."

"With your what? What the hell is magic?"

"You're gonna find out!" Sora leaped onto the semi-truck that connected the collapsed bridge to the ground. He dodged the projectiles aimed at him mid-air, then blocked the rest with his keyblade. While the machines were re-charging their blasters for another round, he cast a lightning spell that electrocuted the machines enough to temporarily stun them.

A2 followed suit, equipping both her Type-4O sword and blade to lay waste to the machines. ' _The kid's not a bad fighter, at least he won't slow me down.'_  "Hey kid, those weird elemental commands you keep using, they're generated from that stupid looking sword, right?"

"You got it," Sora twirled the keyblade around his hand. "I used to be able to do a lot more than just magic, but I guess it'll come back to me later."

"Whatever, as long as it's not a distraction. Now come on, we got ground to cover."

After passing the collapsed bridge, they arrived at the Abandoned Factory; a massive facility that absolutely dwarfed them from its sheer magnitude. Like everything else in the world, vegetation made up for the lost time and infested practically every inch of the factory's red exterior.

"Great, I get so claustrophobic in these types of places. They get kind of same-y after a while," Sora said, drawing back to the last time he was in a gigantic factory at Monstroplis.

' _Claustrophobic_? _What's with all these complicated words he keeps using?'_ Although A2 figured her outdated cognitive functions were also to blame for her obliviousness as well, not that she would ever admit something like that.

Several flights of stairs later and they arrived at the factory's entrance, a murky gray sea surrounded the base and thick fog obscured the rest of the view. Though there probably wasn't much to look at besides miles of ocean.

"What happened to the rest of the bridge?" Sora asked.

"You can thank the machines for that. Heh, I'd like to take on whatever giant machine managed to do that much damage if I'm still in one piece by then."

"Don't say things like that..."

"Huh?"

"I mean, you have somewhere to go, don't you?" He lowered his head, speaking softly to her, "Someone waiting for you to come back home..."

A2 fixed her gaze on Sora. "I do...and they want me dead."

The inside of the factory didn't hold up any better than the outside, but for the most part, it was still functioning, with several factory lights flickering on and off, accompanied by the low hum of generators running.

Sora looked down at what lay below their feet as they ventured further into the industrial beast and foreboding darkness stared back at him with no end in sight. "This factory goes on forever, wonder what this place was used for back when it wasn't a ghost town."

"Nothing good."

*clank-clank-clank

"Now that's what I like to hear! There are machines on the upper platform, don't fall behind, kid!" A2 jumped onto a loading crate where a ladder was conveniently placed to reach the next level. Although Sora had other plans in mind and ran up the wall so he could land a devastating blow on the machines.

"Looks like you're the one falling behind, A2!" Sora teased.

A2 shook her head, dismissive of his childish antics. ' _He's so goddamn annoying.'_

They traversed over a pit of molten steel that gave the factory a dim, orange glow which led down to a lower level where four open loading crates enclosed them in. It didn't take years of battle experience to predict at least one of the crates had killer machines waiting inside for an ambush so A2 cut to the chase and threw her sword at the crate to force the machines out. Unsurprisingly, a handful of machines poured out of the crate now that their cover was blown and marched towards A2 and Sora.

"Try not to show off this time," A2 said, swinging around her Type-4O blade in her hand.

Sora summoned his keyblade. "Then why don't you keep up!"

"Oh for the love of一" But A2 was cut off when a machine attacked her from behind and she stumbled a few feet forward.

"A-A2 are you okay?!"

"I'm not a  _weakling_  like you so I don't need your pity. These machines are gonna want their pain circuits cut off when I'm through with them!" She used her sword to stabilize herself, then swung it at the machine behind her with enough force to slice it clean in half.

Riled up by a burning hatred seething within her core, A2 threw herself at the rest of the big machines, completely disregarding her own safety. Meanwhile, Sora made quick work of the smaller machines before providing back up to A2. Now with the two of them working together for once, they destroyed the last of the machines without much trouble. However, by the end, A2 dropped down to her knees, exhaustion taking its toll.

"A2!"

"...I'm not usually this pathetic, but I used up all my recovery units and my self-recovery system takes a while to boot up."

"Then I'm pretty sure my cure magic will work on you and you'll be on your feet in no time!"

"You think I'd lower myself to...wait, hold on." She dragged herself to behind a loading crate. "Take cover, kid. I hear someone."

_'The look on her face tells me it's not a machine this time around.'_ Sora joined her behind the loading crate and they waited in anticipation.

The sound of heels clicking on the metal surface, echoing off the hollow walls, grew closer and closer with each passing breath. When the clicking noise stopped, so did their breathing as a YoRHa android revealed herself from out of the shadows. Both Sora and A2 recognized her for different reasons, but it was undeniably the same android from earlier who ruthlessly killed her own without a second thought; Number 22 Type E.

"Not this bitch again," A2 muttered under breath.

"You know her?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, she's the reason I used up all my recovery units, but she's gonna get  _exactly_  what she deserves as soon I'm at full health."

Sora stared at the back of 22E, it didn't register in his mind before because it was truly an insignificant detail, but now all he could focus on was her vivid red hair that brushed on her shoulders.  _'How could I be thinking about Kairi at a time like this?'_ His fingers curled up into a fist. "She's definitely the one who struck that other android I was carrying down."

"Not surprised. Those new models are all the same, blindly following orders just how Command likes it."

As soon as 22E appeared, she was just as quick to disappear, merging back into the shadows where she did her best work. Once it became clear 22E was out of earshot, A2 faced Sora, visibly angry, a sentiment he shared with her. "Forget the machines for now, my new objective is to destroy that android."

"You're gonna...destroy her?"

"If I let her live it'll cause more trouble than she's worth and there's already enough pursuers chasing me."

His eyes averted away from A2. "..."

"Look, if you're worried about me, I'll be fine. She wouldn't be the first android I've had to kill."

Once Sora and A2 moved past the furnace, the factory truly opened itself up, turning into a labyrinth of various mechanisms and contraptions. Though the scattered machine corpses laid out a clear path for them to take. There was little conversation between Sora and A2 during this particular stretch of factory grounds, save for when they would run into the occasional machine and it forced communication out of them.

At first, the silence was a much welcome addition for A2, granted she eventually pieced together something was up with Sora, _'This is probably the longest time the kid's gone without talking so I shouldn't be complaining, but...'_  She snuck a glance over her shoulder to Sora who clearly had his mind on other things.  _'Whatever, why should I care about how that little shit's feeling, the less he runs his mouth, the better.'_

_'Then again, I don't like his silence either.'_  "...Hold on, is that-" A2 flew down the flight of stairs and discovered a YoRHa android corpse lying on the ground. "I always hate finding them like this."

Running her hand along a deep gash that tore through the android's chest, A2 salvaged what remained of her data. ' _This is the work of that pursuer android and going off of her blood she was killed not too long ago. Hell, she might even be nearby for all I know, waiting for the chance to end my miserable existence. No, I can't think about that, if I'm gone, then the kid will...'_

A2 snapped her head back to Sora who was lagging behind. "Get your ass over here kid, what's taking you so long?!" She hissed.

Sora didn't answer when he arrived, rather he had the dumbest look on his face imaginable which pissed A2 off even more. "We need to get moving so either pick up the pace or I'm leaving you behind!"

"Um...actually, can we wait a minute? I...uh..." His face was turning red again, setting off more red flags on A2's end.

"Spit it out already, I don't have all day."

' _How do I say this to a girl, especially A2? I need to think of something or she'll walk away.'_ "I...I have to do a human thing and you wouldn't wanna know what it is so don't ask!"

A2 crossed her arms. "And this can't wait?"

"No! I've been holding it in all day, but I promise it won't take long!"

"Fine."

Sora scurried off into a corner while A2 followed behind, curious as to what 'human thing' he had to do this time.

"Well?" She asked impatiently.

"...I can't do it while you're watching me..." He mumbled.

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing since you're a girl and all..."

"Whatever." A2 left him alone and went the opposite direction where she leaned back on a stack of crates. ' _I'm gonna strangle him whenever he's done.'_ However, her plot for revenge was postponed when she found herself on the receiving end of another ambush from the machines.

After swiftly dodging a cluster of projectiles, A2 pointed her sword at the machines flying in the air. "More of you wanna get killed huh?!" She equipped the long reaching YoRHa-issue blade, then slashed through another set of projectiles. The shock wave plug-in chip she installed on a whim a while back finally came in handy as a sharp blast of energy carved into one of the machines when her sword couldn't reach.

"Not bad." She switched back to her Type-4O blade, swinging around before letting it go and collide into the unlucky machine that didn't have the sense to get out of the way in time.

"Two down, one more to...-" She scanned the area. "Where'd the other go? I know I counted three or did I kill it without realiz一" Suddenly, A2 flew over the platform and would've plummeted to her death if she didn't immediately grab onto the railing. There, she saw the missing machine staring down at her, charging its blaster for one final shot.

"This is why I hate you shitty machines!" A2 swung herself over the railing and kicked the machine in the head, crushing its metal skull in, but Sora stole the finishing blow from her with his keyblade.

"Will you stop doing that?! It's pissing me off!" A2 fumed.

"What doesn't piss you off." Sora accidentally slipped out, not meaning to actually say it to her face.

"Why you little- you got a death wish, kid?!"

"Er- no ma'am! And thanks for waiting on me, I feel so much better now~"

"Shut up. These diversions are getting on my nerves, no wonder the machines drove out humans."

"...Do you think the androids will take back Earth from the machines anytime soon?"

"Hell if I know. We could defeat every last machine on the planet and the aliens could drop some more on us."

"Oooh! There really are aliens?! That's so cool!"

"Ugh, god you're so weird. Let's not waste any more time than we already have."

A2's objective drew closer to completion once they walked out into the outdoor portion of the facility with there only being so much factory left until it led to a dead end and a confrontation was inevitable to happen between now and then.

"Man, it feels like we've been walking around this factory forever," Sora said.

"Quit complaining, it's only been two hours."

"What?! It's been that long?!"

"Don't act surpri-" Cutting herself off, A2 suddenly rushed down the flight of steps to the ground level.

"H-Hey, A2! Wait up!"

By the time Sora caught up to A2, she was in the middle of hacking away at a group of machines. Then when she made sure every machine was stamped out of existence, she pulled out the body of a badly damaged YoRHa android from the rubble.

Sora ran over to A2. "...Is she still..."

"Yeah, and she's conscious too, come on kid let's help her up."

"Right."

They lifted the android up to her feet. "Th...Thank you..." She attempted to say, but it came out more like a grunt than functioning words.

"Don't push yourself," Sora said.

"Can you speak at least?" A2 asked.

"Yes...for the most part."

"Good, what's your name anyway?"

"...11B...I-I was apart of the 243rd Descent Operation." She latched onto A2's shoulder, gently shaking her back and forth. "I can't stay here, I have to find somewhere safer or the pursuers will come!"

"Calm down, listen, we can get you out of the factory and probably find somewhere in the City Ruins for you to lay low for a while."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Look, it wouldn't sit well with my conscience if I left you for dead."

"Thank you, really... but my body's shutting down. I'm not sure how long I can last until my internal systems fail."

"So let me fix you up," Sora offered. "I'm sure I can help you!"

"Thank you...thank you so much. Please, it would mean everything to me if I could live long enough just to see her again...see 16D."

After Sora cast cure on 11B, it seemed like for a brief moment they could finally move forward, but even those few precious seconds couldn't last long enough as everything quickly spiraled out of control. Whether the cure spell actually worked on her mechanical body was meaningless when a long, slender sword, impaled straight through 11B's chest, depriving her of any chance at continued life.

11B's body fell on the ground and her murderer looked straight at A2. "Heh, lucky me. I get to dispose of another YoRHa betrayer and finish off your sorry existence all in one go."

A2 squeezed the handle of her sword, nearly crushing it in her hand. "Sora, get the hell out of here," She said through gritted teeth.

Sora, still in a state of shock from 11B's death, could only blankly stare at A2's face, not even registering her voice. It took A2 to scream, "NOW, GODDAMNIT!" Before he snapped into place and carried himself to a nearby loading crate for cover.

With Sora out of A2's mind and not weighing constantly in her thoughts, she lunged at 22E with her Type-3 blade一 the only sword in her arsenal she could count on not to break on her for the punishment she had in store for 22E. "I'll destroy this entire fucking factory if that's what it takes to see you dead!"

"Please, what makes you think you can beat me this time around!" 22E countered A2 with her bloody Type-4O sword, sounding a screeching noise when their blades met. Pulling her sword back for another go, A2 then hammered down her blade on 22E's sword and summoned enough of her diminishing strength to snap it in half.

"Next is your neck." A2 hissed, winding her sword back.

"Pod, initiate A150: Volt program!"

"What-"

Suddenly, the tiny box floating alongside 22E powered on and generated an electrical shock that rendered A2 immovable. Worst of all, it overheated her internal build, causing black smoke to steam out of her body. "Oh...god..." She moaned, collapsing on the ground.

"That'll keep you down." 22E approached A2, holding her sword inches above her neck. "How pathetic, The great Number 2, squad captain of the Pearl Harbour Descent mission and you threw it all away."

"Command was the one who threw me away and they'll throw you away too when you've fulfilled your purpose!"

"You sound just like a trait一" Her head abruptly frozen in a chunk of ice.

' _I told him to stay out of this. Damn, I can't even move to beat the shit out of him.'_ Though Sora made it easier on A2 by running over to her side. "Weren't you listening to me, get out of here!" She shouted.

"No, I can't leave you alone or you'll...you'll die!" Sora cried.

"Who cares...maybe it's better this way."

"Who cares?  _Who cares_?!" Sora's face was fraught with anxiety and despair; his faded smile, his eyes that no longer had the same glow it always used to, it somehow made A2 feel worse than the pitiful state she was already in. "I care about what happens to you A2! So don't say you rather be dead, because even if you give up, I'll still keep on fighting for you! If you're not strong enough on your own, fine, I'll make up the difference!"

"...Sora..." A2 threw Sora out of the way so he wouldn't get stabbed by 22E's sword and the blade struck through her instead.

"A2, NO!" He screamed.

"Shut up...this isn't enough to kill me!" A2's body began shaking with more steam pouring out of her like she was on the verge of combustion. All of a sudden, her entire body glowed a bright red, the steam subsiding afterward.

22E could only stand there and be a witness to her terrifying transformation before finally putting together what was happening. ' _That's right. Her model can go into Berserk mode. It was discontinued in the newer models due to it being too dangerous, which means she's desperate and running out of options.'_  22E only equipped her Type-4O blade, confident she would be able to finish her off with relative ease.

Meanwhile, A2 ripped 22E's sword out of her body, allowing her blood to spill out on the ground. "This ends now."

"I'd like to see you一"

* _SLASH_

The top half of 22E's was severed from her lower half and both parts fell down, her vivid red hair merging into the pool of blood. "You don't deserve a painless death." Something deep within A2's AI switched on and she violently cut 22E's body up again and again just for the hell of it.

"Stop it, A2!" Sora grabbed onto A2's arm, preventing her from going any further. "Look A2...she's already dead. Stop this."

A2 realized she so thoroughly mutilated 22E's body, she became unrecognizable amongst the other machine parts littering the factory. She stared at the blade of her own sword, stained with wet blood. "Sorry...I don't know what..." She felt herself getting lightheaded, about to lose her balance, but Sora caught her before she fell over.

"A2, you okay?"

"You need to stop saving me...it's ruining my image."

Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "You are okay." He cast cure on A2 and her internal body functions stabilized enough to commence self-repairs.

"It's about time that 'magic' actually did something useful for once," She said. "Now let's get the hell out of here- er, no hold on, there's still one thing left we need to do."

"Hm?"

A2 motioned to 11B's corpse. "I'd hate to leave her out in the open, there's no dignity in dying like that."

"...Right, it's the least we can do for her."

Sora and A2 left the Abandoned Factory shortly afterward and took refuge inside an empty building to reconvene for their next plan of action. "So, where are we going next?" Sora asked.

"Hell if I know."

"You don't like making plans, do you?"

"You've known me for this long, thought you would've put that together by now. I just follow wherever the most machines are and crush them."

He smiled wryly at her. "Heh, I guess that's one way to go about it."

"...and, uh, about what you said to me earlier...I don't hate you for it." A2 mumbled.

"Oh, okay," Sora said, taken back a little. "Wow, that was almost a compliment!"

"Forget it then, I take back what I said!"

"Wha- I was only teasing! I'm just happy you're okay, I hated seeing you like that...I wanted to do something at least."

"..."

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, what're you giving me that look for?"

A2 turned her head away from him so he wouldn't see her face.  _'He always finds new ways to piss me off.'_

"一64B! Are you in here?! 64B!" Called out an unfamiliar voice. A male YoRHa android wandered into the building A2 and Sora were in, which was a big mistake on his part.

"Shit, another pursuer!" A2 bolted towards the android, she pinned him on the ground with one hand and held a short sword to his neck with the other. "Tell me why you're here,  _now_!"

"I-I'm just looking for my partner, 64B!"

"How do I know that's not a cover?!"

"I'm Scanner model Number 4 Type S, so there's no way I could kill you even if I wanted to!"

"Tch, fine, but you're dead if you report me to Command."

"I swear I won't report you to Command, just let me go!"

"First tell me if there are any high levels of machine activity anywhere? I'm...on a mission."

"Yes, in the desert. Apparently, there are sightings of machines who are capable of speech and even wearing clothes like humans, but I think I heard Units 2B and 9S were already investigating the area so you should probably wait for their report back."

"Thanks, that's all I needed." She let go of him and he scrambled away from A2 as fast as he could.

"You don't think that was a little overkill," Sora said.

"What? I thought I handled it pretty well."

' _Is she joking?'_ "Right, so we're heading to the desert next?"

"Yep, can't believe there are machines that act like humans now. I gotta see this for myself."

' _Machines that act like humans? I wonder then what separates an android from a machine?'_

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Emptiness**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually I'm pretty sure 4S told Command about A2 anyways the little shit


	3. 2B or [N]ot 2B

A2 scowled at her reflection in the still pool of water, "I look like shit." Across from her, Sora was in the middle of collecting water for their voyage in the desert. ' _We can't go two steps without him whining about something new. I wish he would stop using complicated words like 'dehydration' to describe his condition.'_

When Sora finished, he walked back over to A2, "Hey A2, I was wondering, can androids drink water too or would it just fry your insides?"

"We can, but it's not necessary."

"Oh, that's cool! Do you ever drink anything?"

She thought for a moment, "Alcohol, but that stuff's hard to come by."

"How am I not surprised by that..."

Sand overflowed into the roads of the City Ruins, indicating they were going in the right direction at least. After passing through a tunnel created by the collapse of towering skyscrapers, they found themselves at a meager desert camp.

"Let's keep going," A2 insisted, not giving the other androids stationed there a passing glance.

"—A2, is that you?" One of the androids with weird headgear called out to her.

"Oh great..." Now that her fate was sealed, she begrudgingly approached them and with crossed arms, asked, "What do you want?"

"You sure haven't changed A2 and to think we all thought you were dead," Jackass said.

"I even surprise myself sometimes."

"It's good to see you're in one piece at least," The supply trader said. "If you need anything, I'd be happy to help you guys."

"Thanks, but we don't need it."

"Um...are these your friends, A2?" Sora asked.

"No."

"Huh, why is there a kid with you?" Jackass asked, not fully registering his presence until now.

"None of your business."

"I'm Sora!" He greeted. "Nice to meet you guys!"

"Sora? I'm Jackass and this is my partner. We work in the desert so we know this place pretty well."

"Really? Maybe you could show us around!"

"-That's not happening, she'll only slow us down," A2 said.

"Wha- A2! Don't say that!"

"I'm just telling it how it is."

Jackass chuckled. "So you aren't even gonna pretend to like me? Not sure how you managed to get such a nice kid to follow you around."

"A2 asked me to help her fight the machines," Sora said.

"Oh? That's all it takes for you to help someone?"

"Uh, well it's more like A2 wanted to —"

"Enough wasting time," A2 cut off. "Look, Jackass, unless you have any intel on the machines in the desert, we're just gonna keep moving."

"Nothing you don't already know, though some other YoRHa androids went by here recently. I was gonna ask them to do a favor for me, but since you're already here I'll ask you instead."

"Not happening. Come on, Sora."

"I think we should help her out!" He argued.

"She can help herself."

"But we should help people out in need and it's not like we have anything else better to do!"

"..."

"..."

A2 sighed in defeat, unable to resist the persuasive power of Sora's wide-eyed, innocent face. "...Goddamnit. What the hell do you want Jackass?!"

"Heh, so glad you came around. Yeah, I left some shit lying around in the desert 'cause some machines started chasing me down, be great if you could pick them up for me. Might even help out the resistance a little."

"So you're sending us out on a fetch quest? This is gonna suck..."

"Quit bitching, there'll be a reward in it for you. And to make it easier I already uploaded the approximate locations of my stuff to your map server so it shouldn't be a hard find."

"Fine. Let's get this over with already."

Past the overarching rock formations eroded by years of dusty winds was a barren terrain divided by a fragmented pipeline reaching as far as the ends of the desert. Rotted buildings riddled with machines poked out from the sand, though there was nothing particularly human about them, especially when they met their end to A2's Type-3 blade.

_'That's disappointing, these machines are no different than the other ones. At least,_  o _ne of Jackass' things is nearby.'_ A2 went over to the pipeline and fished out an empty machine head lying inside. "Damn, way to get my hopes up," She said, throwing it to Sora for him to carry.

Sora gawked at the machine head in fascination, but the longer he stared, the more it resembled something else entirely.  _'I know there's nothing inside, so why do I still feel it? The darkness of this world,_ _where is it coming from?'_

"Pick up the pace, kid!"

"Sorry, I'm coming!"

Sora and A2 navigated through a narrow passageway that led them to the open desert; a vast, empty region where nothing more than sand dunes could be seen for miles ahead of them. What little of human civilization did remain were all but lost to the sands of time, now memories of dust.

If the sun didn't bother Sora before, the scorching hot heat radiating from the sand definitely did now and he was already chugging down his water to cool off, "How long are we gonna be here?" He grumbled.

"Not too long if we keep it moving."

Fortunately, the slippery sand made for fast travel and they were already well into the desert when they were ambushed by a group of machines who buried themselves out of the sand for a not so subtle sneak attack. Drastically different from the machines the two were used to cutting down, these machines wore long garments, ancient masks and had tribal markings painted on their bodies.

"An...droids..."

"S...cary...androids..."

"Kill...kill...them..."

Sora hesitantly drew his keyblade. "They really are acting like humans..."

"Hopefully they'll scream like one too." Dodging one of the machine's buzzsaw attack, A2 sliced it in half, provoking the other machines in the vicinity to focus their attacks on her.

"...android...die...android."

"...gone...dead...forever."

"...Too late...Too late..."

"So all of you wanna take me on, huh? This'll be fun!" Naturally, A2 could only see them as another challenge to overcome, rather than the tribal mentality the machines also imitated for their fallen brethren.

While A2 cut down the machines with ease, Sora was having trouble facing just one on his own.

"Help me...help me...e..." The machine repeated as it swung its sword at Sora, who easily blocked its flimsy attacks.

"Help you...help you with what?!" He asked.

"Help me...end this."

"Wha-" Sora momentarily let his guard down and the machine was able to make a shallow cut through his chest. He recoiled back in pain, but a superficial wound like that would be a quick fix with cure magic. "If you need help, why are you still attacking me?!"

"...can't...stop..."

A2 dropped everything to destroy the machine causing Sora difficulty, beheading it without as much as batting an eyelid. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why didn't you kill that thing?!"

"...I don't know, it's just... when it started talking about how it wanted help I couldn't..."

"Don't give me that shit. What, do you feel bad for the machines now that they spout a few lines of dialogue, is that worth dying for to you?!"

"No, but...but what makes the machines and androids so different from each other? Look at them, A2! You're both made of the same stuff, aren't you?"

"...you wanna know the difference between machines and androids?" A2 stomped her foot through the hollow husk of the dead machine. "The difference is, machines were put on this planet to murder, that's their ONLY purpose. The moment you show any weakness, even for a second, they'll do exactly that. I guess a human like you wouldn't understand because in your eyes we're both equally non-human, isn't that right?"

"I've never cared that you weren't human, that was never important to me! Anyone can have a heart, that's why I can't help but wonder if those other machines, all those machines we destroyed...if they wanted help too."

"If they wanted help, they wouldn't be attacking us. Even a hurt animal cries, but they just keep on going. You have to worry about keeping yourself alive instead of worrying about these murder bots or you'll never get back home, Sora."

"I...I understand. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to...no, forget it." A2 figured it would be best to change the subject and get Sora's mind off the machines. "-Um, there's another one of Jackass' crap nearby so we should go."

They reached the specified location and A2 found something sticking out of the sand. After burying it out, she discovered three identical parts that sparked activity within her memory archive. "Wait a second, these are AIM-11s, what does she want with these?"

"AI- wha?" Sora asked.

"AIM-11s, they're components for flight units." A2 dumped them in Sora's arms and he gave her one of those annoying are-you-gonna-tell-me-what-these-are-for looks so she elaborated on her statement, "My AI's not exactly up to date so I couldn't tell you what it does or what she wants them for."

"Seriously? I thought androids were supposed to be way smarter than humans."

A2 glared at Sora. "...Are you trying to piss me off?"

"No..."

All of a sudden, they heard a deafening explosion erupt from a distance away. "Whatever that was, it came from the direction of those rock formations," A2 said.

"You think a machine made that noise?"

"We're gonna find out." For better or for worse, the chance to slay the monstrosity that caused such an uproar was enough to put a smirk on her usual expressionless face. There was something deeply embedded in her code that lived to fulfill a purpose in her purposeless life.

Although such a drastic change of emotion didn't translate well from Sora's perspective. ' _A2 looking excited for once kind of has me worried, it's not like I've never taken down a titan before, but I hope what happened at the factory doesn't happen again.'_

Cutting down any machine that stood in their way, it didn't take long for Sora and A2 to reach the other half of the desert hidden behind the mountainous rock formation. A2 regarded the ocean of sand before them in disgust, a sentiment Sora shared with his water supply diminishing.

"This desert just doesn't end," A2 said.

"I know what you mean, but hey- do you see those buildings in the distance, they look like apartments. I gotta get a closer look to make sure," Sora said, then added, "Oh and apartments are big buildings where a lot of humans live in separate rooms."

"Thanks, but I didn't ask." A2 went ahead and Sora followed behind, shaking his head in defeat.

Once they went further along in the desert, A2 paused to bend down, "This should be where the last of Jackass' things are located, we'll bring everything back to her after we kill that machine."

Sora helped A2 shovel away the sand, thinking they'd find another useless piece of junk he would have to carry, however, what they found was much worse.

"Is this...a YoRHa android corpse," A2 said.

Most of the synthetic skin had melted into the endoskeleton, leaving a horribly disfigured face in the process. "I get it now...so we're collecting parts for her to make a bomb," A2 said.

"What?! But why would an android make a bomb out of another android?!"

A2 didn't answer, tuning Sora's voice out so all her attention fixated on the corpse. ' _We really are just cables and wires after we die. Still, u_ _sing a dead android for a lousy bomb? Almost as bad as using androids for data fodder.'_ She took the other ingredients for the bomb recipe off of Sora's hands, then threw them back in the sand.

"...uh, A2, are you alright? What we just saw back there-"

"Save it."

_'I wonder what's going on through your head right now, A2?'_

The apartment complex was finally coming into view when A2 recognized two distinct YoRHa androids running away from what they were running towards. It was too late to take cover since the androids already caught sight of them with their enhanced vision and all so A2 prepared for a fatal confrontation while Sora watched on, curious.

These pair of androids weren't much different from the ones they saw before. Both of them had white hair that contrasted with their black clothes and pods floating around them for support; Number 2 Type B and Number 9 Type S.

"You're a YoRHa android! What're you doing out here?" 9S asked.

"None of your business," A2 said.

Pod 042: Alert: This unit is currently wanted by YoRHa. Annihilation recommended.

"Annihilation?" 9S repeated in disbelief. "Why would we do that!?"

"Pod, what about the other one?" 2B asked.

Pod 042: Running...Running...Running. Analysis complete. There is no data available of the individual in question. However, the analysis concludes this specimen is comprised entirely of organic matter, therefore the most correct category to place him under is "human", although he possesses abnormal qualities distinct from a standard human, further data is required to correctly categorize him.

"That's...a human?"

"Wait-wait-wait, you're a  _HUMAN_?!" 9S exclaimed.

Pod 042: Proposal: Annihilating the YoRHa android would be beneficial for the human's safety.

A2 grabbed Sora by the arm. "We need to leave, now!" She attempted to run away but was prevented from making an escape when a Goliath Tank emerged out of the sand.

' _Guess we have no choice but to stay, this will be interesting.'_

Immediately, the Goliath Tank began its ramage, the machines stationed along its perimeter fired the turrets while the machine at the base prepared the cannon for a devastating laser. As expected of YoRHa androids, 2B and 9S were exceptionally well fighters, although 2B and 9S had other plans in mind besides simply fighting against the machines...

2B was still intent on carrying out A2's execution, directly engaging her, before having to break off to avoid a bullet or two from the Goliath Tank while 9S practically ignored the machine hellbent on annihilating androids to focus solely on Sora.

"You fight pretty well for a human," 9S said.

"Uh, thanks?"

"Soooo... what was human society like, and why did you feel the need to individualize yourself so much and create meaningless hierarchies? Also why was human reproduction frowned upon when it's...blah blah blah."

While 9S droned on and on, seemingly in his own little world, he failed to recognize the tank's giant arm-like structure was about to cleave them so Sora took initiative and rolled them out of the way. "You're not very perceptive, huh," Sora said.

"What-oh, sorry, that was my bad. Usually, I'm pretty on top of things, but I've always wanted to meet a human before so if you don't mind, I'd like to know everything about you."

"Is now really the best time?!"

"Now's the  _best_  time!"

Sora smiled at 9S, partly to humor him because he wasn't giving him the time of day, and partly because of how much the android reminded him of himself. He thought if humans and androids were truly so unlike from each other, existing in two separate worlds, then why did he see so much within 9S that he also saw within himself? Why did the way he talked, the way he sounded, the way he smiled, resonate to Sora in a way he couldn't with most humans.

"...You really don't know when to give up? Fine, I'll you show what being a human's all about!" Sora pointed his keyblade at the tank's cannon, freezing it solid with blizzard before it could fire its laser. A reckless move considering several of the turrets was now aimed directly at him, but it was enough to get A2 and 2B to briefly stop fighting and focus their full attention on the tank.

A2 and 2B worked together to cut down the turrets aimed at Sora, then the rest came easy; hit it at its weak points, evade its attacks and repeat. Soon enough, the Goliath Tank went out in flames, but the battle wasn't over just yet.

"We need to finish this android off and then figure out what to do with the human," 2B said.

"Right...Let's do it, 2B."

' _Now the hard part's gonna be getting away from these guys.'_ A2's mental processing unit searched for any possible solution that wouldn't end in direct conflict, but she only drew up blanks. ' _I don't have any other choice. I've collected enough data on their movesets to make this go by quickly at least.'_

A2 was about to draw her sword, ready to cut the androids down like she would any other. However, she didn't predict Sora would step out in front of her and protect her from her own impulsiveness, but it pissed her off nonetheless, "What the hell are you doing?! Get out of my way!"

"No..." He looked directly at 2B and 9S. "I won't let you hurt A2!"

"What're you talking about?! A2 is dangerous, you shouldn't even be around her," 9S said.

"A2's my friend, I'm not leaving her. So if you fight her, you're fighting me too!" He pointed his keyblade at them.

"That's not fair! We're supposed to protect humans, we can't fight you, that goes against everything androids stand for!"

Sora lowered his keyblade. "...I don't really want to fight you either, look, I'm sorry if I'm on the wrong side of this war, but I'm not just gonna stand by and watch you cut her down! I don't know what A2 did to deserve this and I don't care!"

2B clenched her fists. ' _This is why humans should stay on the moon.'_  "...We have to engage him."

"We can't do that ...he's a human!"

"I know, but we can't control whether he'll live or die as long as he's with A2, so we have to fight him if that's what it takes to protect the only human on this insufferable planet."

"...That's it," A2 pushed Sora out of the way. "The kid's staying with me. Command will do nothing, but harm him!"

"I'm not listening to a YoRHa betrayer."

"So be it." Before the opposing androids could clash, 2B and 9S stopped mid-movement like there were on pause mode. A2 turned her head back to Sora, knowing he had something to do with it, but he looked just as surprised as she was. "What's going on?" She asked.

"I... I used 'Stop'. I didn't know I still had it, but when I saw you guys about to fight, I had to do something."

"Is that even possible?" Skeptical, A2 waved her hand in front of 2B's face, then pinched her cheek. She waited for her head to be blown off, but no such outcome occurred. "Whatever, I'm not even gonna try to make sense of this. Let's get the hell out of this desert while we can!"

"What about the machine?"

"We have to cut our losses, come on!"

At the speed Sora and A2 were running, it seemed like they could've just barely escaped in one piece, however, any chance of that was soon dashed away when Sora abruptly collapsed on the sand. A2, not fully comprehending what happened to him, figured it was nothing more than Sora wasting time again when that was the last thing they had. "What're you doing, get the hell up!"

"..."

"I said get up! We need to get out of here before those androids come!" A2 waited approximately 1 second for Sora, until she stomped over to him and forcefully shook his body. "...Sora?" Rolling him over to his back, and seeing his face, his lifeless face, made her realize something had gone horribly wrong with him.

"No, no...no. Fuck...no nonono no no...no ...no ..." With shaky hands, she squeezed Sora's arm and was filled with immense relief when she still felt his pulse. "...thank god, but I have to figure out what's wrong with him so he'll wake up."

Scooping his limp body up in her arms, A2 marched ahead. ' _His skin is so warm and his face is bright red, it's like his body is overheating. That's right, I remember, he said he'd get 'dehydrated' if he didn't drink enough water, that must be it and I know just the place to go.'_

Fine particles of sand scraped against her synthetic skin as she flew down the rolling sand dunes. With a destination in mind, her heart swelled with hope, a sickening feeling that pushed her forward if only to get rid of that sensation. "I'm almost there, kid, hang on." Finally, she could see the tall palm trees sway calmly in the desert wind and the lush vegetation gathered around what would revive Sora.

After lowering Sora into the basin of water, A2 sat down across from him. "You'll be safe here, not many androids know of this place." Letting out a bemoaning sigh, she uploaded a bottle of booze from her database.

"I can't believe I'm wasting a drink on your sorry ass, but my body won't calm itself down..." She thumbed the thick glass of the bottle, her hand slowly inching up the neck. "Don't tell me it's because I actually...no...is that why I find myself enjoying this world when I'm around you? Ugh, maybe I have gone soft."

"Number 4...Number 16...Number 21...and now you." She guzzled down way too much booze than her body could process, causing more than a few alterations in her visual field. "That feels slightly better."

A2 finished off the rest of her drink, then threw it across the oasis, not expecting two identical young men with long, white hair to emerge from a cluster of palm trees. Their names, of course, were Adam and Eve. Adam was slightly hunched forward due to the stab wounds on his chest that were still in the process of healing while Eve held A2's bottle clenched in his hand, likely having saved his older brother from receiving yet another wound.

"Another android," Adam said.

The booze did more than mess up A2's vision field and augmented her already aggressive nature, "Who the 5#%! are you, huh?! One of you god#*%$ son of a #$%&*3! better #$%&*1# answer me right the #*$& now! And wipe the #5&* eating grin off your face or I'll come over there and #!9% you up!"

"...brother, I don't understand what she's saying to me," Eve said.

"It's not important."

"She's an android, isn't she? I'll destroy her for you so she doesn't get the chance to hurt you like the other ones."

"There's no need to right now," Adam faced A2. "I am Adam, and this is my brother Eve. Android...why do you come here?"

"That's none of your *&^!%$7 business!"

"-Look brother, there's another android lying in the water."

"I see that now. What purpose does it serve, Android?"

"Shut the &*%# up! I'll chop your heads off!"

"Brother, can I  _please_  kill this one already?"

"Not yet, now, enough of this idle talk. Over the course of our short lifespan, I've become fascinated with a specimen you call 'human' and none of the other androids we've slaughtered knew much about them other than the fact you were made in their image. Perhaps you'll be different, or we'll simply have to leave this region and find the answer ourselves."

"A human? I don't #$!%!&!*&3$^!*8*%#^&!%#^%!*7%!%#6^!*# about any humans."

"That's a shame. Go ahead and kill her, she's of no use to us. Our search for humans will simply have to take place elsewhere."

"...Humans..." The 'android' Adam and Eve previously thought was dead, somehow stood himself up with a peculiar key-shaped weapon. "Why are humans the only thing you people ever want to talk about?!"

**NieR:[O]blivion**

**The Curse of Insensibility**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @#$&&@^**&@%^!%^*^!@$^%*^!%*@%*^@%*#*^%^@%#^*%@*#%!*^


	4. [G]lory to Mankind

"Operator, contact the Commander immediately."

"On it, 2B!"

Pod 042: Pending...Pending...

"This is the Commander to 2B and 9S. Was your mission a success?"

2B and 9S exchanged worried glances with each other.

"We found a human," 2B said.

"I don't follow. Does this have anything to do with your mission?

"2B's telling the truth! We actually encountered a human with another YoRHa android, I'll upload the combat data and analysis the pod ran," 9S said.

Pod 042: Uploading...uploading...Data sent.

The Commander attempted to rationalize the world-shattering information presented to her, but came up with no other viable explanation other than the fact that there truly was a human on Earth. "...this is unbelievable. I..." She fell short on words, leading 9S to fill in the blanks.

"So what should we do with the human? We kind of lost track of him, but I don't think he'll be too hard to find," 9S said

"...Unit 2B and 9S, both of you listen to me and listen well. Right now, your top priority will be to locate that human and ensure no harm comes to him. Unfortunately, we don't have any vehicles safe for human transportation, so he'll have to remain on Earth for the time being, but he has to be kept alive at all costs."

She continued. "I'll let every YoRHa unit on the surface know of the human's existence as well as have a profile on him so they don't mistake him for an android. This is an unprecedented discovery, a human on Earth centuries after they were driven away, I'll relay this information to the Council of Humanity at once. Glory to Mankind."

"Glory to Mankind."

* * *

"Guess this one's not dead after all," Eve said.

"How peculiar, what was that you said about humans, android?" Adam asked.

' _It might not be a good idea to let them know I'm human, I'll try my best to keep it from them.'_ "Why do you care so much about humans, isn't being an android good enough on its own?"

"Android?" He scoffed. "My brother and I are evolved machines, and humans are an enigma to us. We know very little of them, but I'd like to change that."

"And that's worth killing androids to you?!"

"You sound surprised, the machines are a natural enemy to androids."

"Then that makes us enemies too!"

"I see, how disappointing, there's no use in continuing this conversation any further. Eve, you're free to dispose of them."

"Finally, I was waiting for you to say that!" Eve approached Sora and A2.

"Don't come any closer!" Sora yelled. "I won't let you hurt, A2!"

"Fine. I can still kill you from a distance." Serpent-like tendrils of energy slithered around Eve's arm and he whipped the energy around halfway across the oasis where Sora was standing.

Despite his condition, Sora managed to jump out of the way and he charged at Eve keyblade in hand. He attempted to go in for a side slash, but Eve used his forearm to block the attack, sounding a familiar cry of metal when Sora's blade and his metal body made contact.

_'That sound again, just like an android.'_

Eve made a devilish smirk at Sora before high kicking him in the jaw and sending him flying over the edge of the oasis. The water turned a dark red color from Sora's blood seeping out of his mouth, but a blow like that wouldn't keep him down, not even close, which Eve found his resilience to be amusing.

"Usually that's enough to send an android's head flying off," Eve said. "That just means I get to kick you around more!" He submerged his arm in the ground and energy pillars burst from the sand one by one towards Sora.

Dodging the pillars of energy as he made his way to Eve, Sora swung his keyblade at him once more. However, Eve merely caught the keyblade in his hand, then crushed it like a shard of glass, "You done yet?"

"Yeah, I am now!" Sora's outfit instantaneously changed to his Second Form and he used his final technique, Ars Arcanum, to unleash a flurry of attacks on Eve.

With the blindingly fast speed Sora moved, Eve couldn't keep up and the keyblade tore through his synthetic flesh, causing his own blood drip into the water. "Wh...What is this red stuff? WHAT DID YOU DO TO  _MEEEEE_?!"

Adam remained at his position near the edge of the oasis, confident his brother would be the one to emerge victoriously. His attention, instead, was fixated on A2 who sunk into an almost catatonic state, idly standing by with a dazed, half-empty expression on her face- a sharp contrast from her explosive outburst prior.  _'That android's death is imminent now that he pushed Eve over to the edge. I'm more concerned about the female android, why hasn't she made a move yet when her friend is in danger?'_

Experiencing the same, biting pain Eve inflicted upon so many others was enough to awaken the violent rage convulsing inside him and revert him back to his primal machine nature. He snatched Sora by the throat, wanting to squeeze out every last drop of life from him, and that alone was enough to get A2 to move.

Even if A2's mind was still catching up, her body moved, carrying out her inner desires. She rushed over to Eve with lightning-fast speed, her sword inches away from his neck. Reacting quickly, Eve ducked his head out of the way in a split second, then ripped off A2's arm holding the sword with his free hand. An act that didn't deter A2 as she simply clamped down on the sword mid-air with her mouth and impaled Eve's shoulder, narrowly missing the neck she was aiming for.

Eve dropped to his knees in agony, releasing Sora from his grasp. "Brother...it hurts...it hurts so much." He wailed.

"Eve!" Adam ran over to his side. "Eve...you're not strong enough just yet."

"Come on, kid!" A2 grabbed Sora, choosing to leave behind her own fallen arm for the sake of getting the hell out of there.

In order to prevent a blood trail broadcasting their location, she tore off the fabric from her torso and wrapped it around the bloody tangle of wire left behind from her arm. Then they kept moving, not stopping for the world until they reached the City Ruins where they found a building to hide inside.

"...A2..."

"What?"

"A2...I'm sorry ..." Sora's voice trembled and his eyes burned, when he saw A2, hurt and broken, he saw the outcome of what his own failures and weaknesses meant for the people around him. All the powers he had and he couldn't save one person, meanwhile, A2 sacrificed her own arm to make up for the strength he sorely lacked, it was almost too much, "I-I'm sorry I couldn't protect you...now your arm's gone because of me."

"It's not your fault so don't beat yourself up...this is the price I pay for getting myself drunk."

"..."

A2's face twisted into anger. "Don't look at me like that...it fucking kills me every time you look at me like that."

"I'm just worried about you A2, I want you to be okay. I don't want you to hurt yourself because of me anymore."

"You're the one who always wants to play the goddamn hero despite how weak you are."

"Look, I know I keep messing everything up and you always have to come to my rescue, but...with each new encounter, I've regained my powers back little by little." He stared into the palm of his hand before curling his fingers into a tight fist. "When I'm strong again, you won't ever have to worry about me. I can promise you that much."

"We'll see about that. In the meantime, we have to worry about the shitstorm that's about to come."

"What do you mean?"

"You realize we'll have the entirety of YoRHa on us now because of 2B and 9S? Tch, I really should've killed them when I had the chance, I guess I'll get another shot eventually, but I'll have to get a new arm first. I can't fight like this."

"You can just 'get' a new arm?"

"It's not that big of a deal. All I need is the arm of another android, but you'd probably guilt trip the hell out of me before I get the chance to."

"Uh, yeah, and that's pretty creepy."

"See, you're already doing it. Just get some rest, I'll think of something soon enough."

"Didn't know androids needed to rest," Sora offhandedly remarked.

"And I didn't know you could still keep talking. Shut up or I'll knock you out." Though that was nothing more than an empty threat as A2 almost immediately dozed off, possibly due to the traces of alcohol still lingering in her system.

Meanwhile, Sora couldn't even close his eyes without replaying A2 losing her arm over and over again in his head. So he decided it would be best to clear his mind a little and pass the time doing meaningless activities until she'd wake up again.

Sora walked out into the broad daylight. ' _Is it just me or is the sun always out? I thought it would be nighttime by now, whatever.'_ He wandered around the City Ruins, aimlessly swinging his keyblade in the air. ' _All I've been using is the Kingdom Key, I know I still have my other keychains hidden away somewhere. Well, it doesn't hurt to try!'_

"Alright, let's go Ultima Keyblade!" He threw his keyblade up in the air, but instead of it undergoing a cool transformation it fell back on his head.

"...aaaaand nothing. It used to be so easy now it's like..." He trailed off, scrambling behind a nearby building. ' _I know I heard something just now. Is it a machine?'_

After a few moments of breathless silence, Sora heard the mechanical cacophony of a machine echoing off the cement walls. Poking his head out to see what he was dealing with, Sora saw a small, defenseless machine stumbling down the road. "...there's something weird about that machine. Maybe I should leave it alone."

His curiosity got the better of him and Sora found himself inching towards the machine. Upon closer inspection, he saw black wisps of smoke oozing out from the machine's body and with it, an unmistakable presence Sora knew all too well.

"No, don't tell me they're here too!" He wasted no time in destroying the machine and a tiny heart floated out of its corpse.

"...the heartless." Sora hurried back to the empty building where A2 was still fast asleep. He plopped down across from her, clutching the handle of his keyblade.  _'Someone's already lost their heart to the darkness. Could it have been that machine? It doesn't matter, I have to find where they're coming from so they don't terrorize this world._

_'If the heartless are attacking the machines, then maybe finding those two human looking ones might be my best bet. As long as they're machines, then A2's gonna want to track them down anyway. I'll tell her about it as soon as she wakes up. When she wakes up that is.'_

More than a few hours passed before A2 stirred awake and Sora somehow managed to feign sleep just in case any unwanted guests arrived.

"Didn't expect you to be up already," A2 said.

"Uh, well, I've been thinking. After you get a new arm, we should track those human machines down!"

"What, so you got a grudge on them too?"

"I mean, dangerous machines like them really shouldn't be out on the loose, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, but we have nothing to go off of. Not like we can ask the machines for help either."

"Er...right, being on the run sure does have its drawbacks, huh?"

"You're just now starting to realize this?" A2 stood up, then stretched her back out, a pretty useless exercise since she lacked any muscles, but so were most things she did. "Hope you got enough rest because we're not stopping."

"Oh- where are we going?"

"To get my new arm."

Once they were well into the City Ruins, it took Sora longer than he cared to admit until he caught onto the fact there was no real direction guiding A2 other than towards the next group of machines. A2 being down to one arm didn't stop her from fighting with the same ferocity and devil-may-care attitude as before despite Sora's constant protest.

It got to the point where Sora had to intervene and pull her away so she couldn't lose her other arm, "You need to stop this," He urged.

"There's another machine right there! Get your hands off me!"

"Fighting machines won't get your arm back!"

"So what?"

"So...you can't do this anymore! Look A2, I don't know what your deal is, but you said it yourself, you can't fight with one arm, why do you keep doing this to yourself?! If talking about it will make you feel better, then I'm all ears!"

A2 snatched her arm away. "That's not happening, but I'll get this over with if that means you'll shut up." She stopped at a row of buildings lined up side by side with a disjointing gap in-between, inviting them to discover what lay behind the concrete walls. Venturing forward into the enclosed space, it soon opened itself into a sizeable resistance camp.

All android eyes were on A2 and Sora when they came in. Especially Anemone, who kept direct eye contact with A2 as she approached her.

"Number Two! You're still alive," Anemone said.

"...yeah, sorry I haven't been in touch, Anemone."

"All that matters is you survived, just barely though, look at you. How did you lose your arm?"

"A machine ripped it off, I was hoping you had a replacement."

"Of course. Head over to the infirmary and we'll fix you right up."

"Thanks." When she eased herself onto one of the infirmary cots, the maintenance android standing by went straight to work on rebuilding A2's arm while Anemone supplied the necessary parts.

"This won't take long," Anemone said to Sora, who was pacing outside the infirmary.

"That's good, you know, A2 didn't want to come here at first, but I'm not sure why. You guys are really helping her."

"I don't blame her, she has a good reason...Sorry, how rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself yet to you. My name is Anemone, I'm the leader of the Resistance."

"I'm Sora, it's nice to meet you!"

"The pleasure's mine, but I don't think I've seen you anywhere before. A2 isn't the type to have companions around."

He rubbed the back of his head. "That's a long story, let's just say I'm not from here."

"So you must be from far away, the Night Kingdom, maybe? We have business partners there."

"Sure, something like that, I guess, so what's up with you and A2?"

"That's a long story too, but...we fought together in the 14th Machine War. Back then she was hopeful and full of life, she was the leader of a YoRHa squadron herself, then something happened during their mission and...we all assumed she died with the rest of her team. It looks like she was the sole survivor after all these years."

"Oh..."

"I don't know what makes you so special to A2, but please take care of her. I'll be returning to my work, if you need anything, you know where to find me."

' _That's why you've always been so distant. You want to be alone so you don't ever have to go through the pain of losing a friend again.'_

Time stubbornly dragged on while Sora waited for A2 and the 20 minutes it took might as well of been 20 hours before she stepped out. Sora ran up to hug A2 and she pushed him off, "What's wrong with you?" She asked.

"I'm so happy you're okay now! And your new arm looks awesome!"

"Ugh, wipe that stupid grin off your face, it's annoying."

"Not happening."

"Whatever. Let's go see about Adam and Eve, I'm sure Anemone might know something about them." A2 walked back to Anemone, who was in the middle of marking locations on her map. "Hey, you got a minute?"

"For you, anything."

"What do you know about two machines named 'Adam and Eve'? They look like androids and we encountered them in the Desert Zone."

"Machines that look like androids? I haven't got any reports on them, they're the ones who attacked you I'm assuming?"

"Yeah, but if you don't have anything, then we should get going."

"Wait, before you go, I do have something that might interest you."

"Which is?"

"I've received reports on machines with incredibly strange behavior in the Flooded City. And supposedly they're 'unkillable'."

"They're  _unkillable_? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Each time my team destroyed a machine, it would come back to life almost as if they were possessed by another being. It's hard to put it into words, but if there are truly indestructible machines you should know how troublesome this information is. I was in the middle of putting together another team, but if you two could investigate the machines, I would be very grateful."

"Sure."

"Thank you so much, if I get any information on Adam and Eve, I'll make sure to let you know right away. I've sent the coordinates of the location to your database so you shouldn't have much trouble getting there, thanks again."

"No problem. Also, could you not tell anyone about our location."

"That's right, I guess you are a fugitive. You know, there's this other android who looks exactly like you, 2B was her name."

"That's who I'm worried about." A2 turned around to leave while Sora waved goodbye.

Not too far off from the Resistance Camp's location was an open sewer pipe that would take them to their destination. Sora looked at it in disgust. "Eww, we have to go through  _there_? I've always hated having to go through the sewers, they're so dark and damp."

"Quiet."

Luckily for Sora, they weren't in the sewer for long as they came across a waterway that carried them down to the end of the pipeline and they were already walking out the other side.

"Wow! Look at this place, A2! There's so much water," Sora said.

"That is why it's called the  _Flooded_  City."

Faithful to its name, most of the city was submerged in the vast ocean and surrounded by cascading waterfalls that shrouded the area in a thin veil of fog. What did manage to stay above water wasn't much aside from a few buildings and infrastructure.

"We should go swimming together sometime A2," Sora said.

"I'll pass."

"Seriously? You're no fun."

"I weigh 306 pounds so I'll sink down to the bottom if I fall in the water."

"3-306 pounds?! Yep, you're basically a goner."

"You really don't know when to一" A2 abruptly drew her sword, then ran ahead.

"A2, hey wait up!" Sora called out in vain since she was already engaged with a group of machines.  _'She never slows down, I like that about her, though.'_  By the time he joined up with A2, however, the machines were no longer a threat.

"Unkillable machines? What a joke, Anemone's team was just weak," A2 said, she kicked a dismembered machine head into the water. "You ready to go? Let's report back, there's nothing else here."

Just when they were about to walk away, the machine head A2 kicked into the water rolled back to the surface and the scraps of metal put itself together like a puzzle. Ominous darkness filled its core, giving the machine a second chance at life.

"...that's a new one." A2 raised her sword to strike it once more, but Sora thought ahead and slammed his blade down the middle of the machine, releasing a tiny heart from the metal cage.

"I'm the only one who can defeat these possessed machines," He said.

"How the hell does that make any sense?"

"Uh..." ' _How can I explain this so A2 understands?'_  "The world where I come from there's these monsters called heartless that only a sword like mine can truly destroy. A normal sword might destroy their physical forms, but they'll just come back after a while since it cannot reunite the body and soul the heartless left behind."

"Aah, so it's like that, huh. I understand everything now."

"You...don't get it at all, do you?"

"No, but it sounds like you're telling me  _not_  to fight the machines, which isn't happening."

They were surrounded on all sides by more possessed machines, Sora went ahead and used a circle raid attack to destroy the weaker machines in one go, while A2, despite the futility of her actions, chopped up the rest of the machines until they were indistinguishable from concrete debris.

"There, that should do it," But the moment those damning words escaped A2's lips, the machine parts began reassembling themselves, "Goddamnit."

"一A2, watch out!" Sora threw his keyblade at the machine creeping up behind her, the blade lodging itself deep into its head. He snapped his fingers and his keyblade lit on fire, swallowing the machine in wild flames.

A2 stepped backward from the burning machine, as much as it killed her to admit defeat, she had no choice but to pull back from the front lines. ' _What is wrong with this kid? Why can he do all these things suddenly, or did I just not realize it before?'_

When they keyblade returned to Sora's hand, she watched him engage the rest of the machines, a feeling of resentment swelling inside her _. 'An android is supposed to protect humans, not the other way around. Don't fucking tell me I can't do that much, the one thing that gives my life purpose. No, it has to be that weapon he uses, without it, he can't do anything.'_

It got to the point where A2 couldn't force herself to sit out in the sidelines any longer and wanted to at least contribute something regardless of how useless it would be. To her, a purposeless action meant more than doing nothing at all, that was what defined her existence and she chose to confront a giant machine as a test of her own resolve.

"Do your worst machine, no matter how many times you build yourself up, I'll cut you right down again and again!" She declared.

A2 dodged the machine when it threw a punch, then used her Type-4O blade to make a clean slice straight through its midsection. The darkness teeming inside the machine seized its top half before it could fall on the ground, then fastened the two halves back together just like that and the machine continued fighting as if nothing happened.

' _I think I get it now. These machines are already dead, it's that black stuff inside that's controlling them._ ' A2 split its body open again, then continuously stabbed the black mass dwelling within until it withered away in a cloud of smoke. ' _Hopefully, that one's not coming back anytime soon.'_

"Tell me you know what's going on with these machines," A2 said, rejoining Sora.

"The heartless are possessing them, but I'm trying to figure out where they're coming from. There's a source of darkness the heartless use to go from world to world, that's how they came here."

"And why is this happening now?"

"Because I'm here. As long as I have the keyblade, the heartless are never too far away."

"Oh is that all it is?" A2 snatched the keyblade from his hand, then chucked it into the water. "There, problem solved."

The keyblade reformed in Sora's hand seconds later. "You're not thinking these things through, are you?"

"...shut the hell up."

"Well, I think we should look around this place a little more to find out if the heartless are coming from here."

Sora and A2 jumped off from one sunken building to the next, but they were forced to stop in their tracks when a YoRHa android armed to the teeth with multiple weapons landed in front of them.

"Not this again." A2 pulled out her sword, pointing it at the newcomer. "You better start running."

"Wait, I'm not looking to fight you, we're on your side," The android said.

"What're you talking about?"

Several more YoRHa androids in similar fashion dropped down beside Sora and A2.

"My name is 8B and we're deserters of YoRHa."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Ignorance**


	5. [D]early Beloved

"YoRHa deserters?"

"Yes, we've abandoned our post after Command betrayed us," 8B said.

"You know we're basically data fodder to build the next line of YoRHa androids," 64B added. "But I'm sure the infamous Number 2 knew that already."

"Yeah you're late to the party, but what does that have to do with us?" A2 asked. "If we're on the same side, then get out of our way."

"I think we'd both benefit from teaming up and joining forces. We saw how your friend easily destroyed those machines with that peculiar sword, it would be a great weapon to use against the YoRHa," 8B said.

"Er, I'm not really comfortable fighting other androids," Sora said.

"And it's practically a suicide mission going against YoRHa. You're better off surviving than trying to get even," A2 said.

"How is surviving with no purpose anyway to live? This whole war is pointless, instead of mindlessly killing machines for a Commander that doesn't give a damn about us, androids could be building a better future on Earth. If we take the Commander down with enough YoRHa androids on our side, then maybe the fighting can stop."

"What the hell are you talking about? How can the fighting stop when machines are all over the goddamn place! We weren't built for no reason, we need to destroy every last machine on this planet."

"For what, the humans?"

"Not just the humans, for androids too! They killed so many of us, they have to pay!"

"Listen to yourself Number 2, somewhere down the line, you must have realized command probably lied about humans too along with everything else. You only hate the machines so much because they give meaning to a meaningless existence, but I'm telling you there's more to live for than what we were programmed for."

"I already found something more to live for."

"Are you talking about your friend?"

"No!"

"Then what?"

"...Okay, fine, maybe I am talking about him."

"A2, you really mean it?"

"Shut up! Look 8B, I guess since none of you have pods, you wouldn't know, but..."

Sora could see a mile away from where A2 was heading, "No, you don't have to-"

"There's no use in keeping it a secret anymore." She faced the others. "This 'android' with me is the last human on this planet. All of YoRHa already knows of his existence and is in the middle of tracking us down, so us joining the deserters is an early death sentence for everyone involved."

"He's...human, are you serious?"

The deserter androids murmured amongst each other, not sure whether to take her word at face value.

"How do we know you're not lying?" 22B finally asked.

"He looks like any other android," 64B said.

A2 turned to Sora. "Go ahead and do that one thing you did in the factory. That'll let them know you're human right away."

"I'm not doing that in front of these girls!"

"-What is he talking about?"

"Yeah I'm kind of intrigued myself, show us what it is!"

"I'm not showing you guys anything!" Sora shouted, his face flushing bright red from embarrassment.

"Aw, look at him, he's so cute!"

"Oooh, I've never seen an android do that before!"

"That's because he's not an android you idiots," A2 said. "All those weapons and not one of you have any pods?!"

"Our pods got destroyed and repossessed over time," 8B said. "But you're not really selling the whole 'he's not human' thing to us very well."

"Maybe lose the temper and you'll sound more believable," 64B said.

"Tch, if you don't believe me, then there's no point in continuing this conversation any further. I'm not interested in joining a bunch of deserters and painting a target on our backs, so get out of our way."

"The most infamous YoRHa deserter doesn't want to paint a target on her back?"

"Huh, the rumors about Number 2 being irrational were true after all," 22B remarked.

"That's it, since you guys wanna piss me off!" Sora held A2 back before she could do something she'd up regretting so she stuck to using her words instead. "You don't even want 'us' to join, you just want to use Sora for your own personal gain as some sort of weapon!"

"No, what I want is to end this war by destroying command and his unique ability would be a great asset to achieving that goal, but I understand you don't want to join us so I won't force you to. 64B, 22B, let's take our leave. Hopefully, you'll change your mind in the future when you realize the truth of our existence."

"Hopefully I won't ever see you again..." A2 muttered. "Let's just go already kid, there's nothing else here."

"Right, maybe we'll have better luck somewhere el—" Apart of the building they were standing on crumbled away and took Sora along with it.

"SORA!" A2 screamed.

He splashed into the water down below, but managed to stay afloat and swim to a sunken building where he climbed back up to the top. A2 and the YoRHa deserters gawked at him for accomplishing what they perceived to be impossible for any android.

"What's everyone looking at me for?" He asked.

"So you really are human? No android can do that," 8B said.

"That's crazy, he might just be the last of humanity," 64B said.

"What do we do with now Captain?"

"Yeah what do we do?"

"You're not doing anything to him or I'm gonna become your enemy!" A2 yelled.

"A human is invaluable. With him we could bring command to surrender to us..." 8B snapped her fingers. " _Like that._ So let me ask again, are you with us, or against us A2?"

"Put your hands on him and you'll find out."

"I see, then I'm sorry it has to end like this. 64B, dispose of Number 2, 22B grab the human."

"Shit, stay close to me, kid!"

"Got it!"

Sora fell back on defense to dodge 22B's advancements while A2 and 64B clashed swords. Between the two androids, A2 and 64B were evenly matched on the account 64B had twice as many weapons to her disposal and was suited with heavy armament to cover any weak spots, even though A2 surpassed her in terms of skill. Though one aspect they shared with each other was above of all, they were both survivors, which meant either one of them would do whatever it took to win the fight.

"Why are you so stubborn? Join us so we can stop this fighting," 64B said.

"You're just trying to use Sora to fulfill your own delusions! But I won't let you take him away from me because you think you can fix this fucked up world!" A2 pulled away, then flung her Type-4O sword at 64B.

Using one of her own swords to deflect A2's sword, 64B was able to swiftly dodge A2's follow-up attack, then penetrate the side of her torso with her spear when A2 made the mistake of getting too close to her range.

Fortunately, Sora was alert enough to immediately use cure on A2's wound so she wouldn't have to slow down for a second and she stabbed 64B in the stomach with her Type-4O blade to bring her down on her knees.

"Time to end your sorry existence." A2 raised her blade only for 22B to resort to an underhanded move and yank her long hair to catch her off guard. She would've gone all the way and stab her in the back too, if Sora didn't throw his keyblade to knock her sword right out of her hands.

_'That was a close one.'_

At this point, A2 was seething with anger from 22B having the nerve to pull her own hair like a child, than attempting to stab her and all she could think to do was punch her right in the face as hard as she could which managed to knock 22B out. "You goddamn bitch..."

Now that was 22B forced to receive whatever punishment A2 had in mind, it meant certain death for the red-haired android. So 64B, summoning the last of her strength, tackled A2 from behind and made her fall off the building, plummeting into the water.

"A2! Don't worry, I'm right behind you!" But before he could jump after her, 8B restrained him. "No, let me go! Please, let me go, I have to save her! I'm the only one who can save her! I said...LET ME GO!"

"She made her choice. Now you're with us." 8B struck the back of his neck and everything faded to black...

一

"..."

"..."

"...A2."

Sora's vision was still a little fuzzy, but he could make out enough of his surroundings to tell he was in an empty building and back in the City Ruins. Three YoRHa androids were also there, standing around in the rubble, then suddenly everything hit him all at once. Like a wave of memories washed over him and with it, a sinking feeling in his heart, drowning him in misery.

"Oh, you're finally awake. You know, you've been out for a while," 8B said.

He tried to get up, but the pillar he was tied to prevented him from doing so. "...where's A2?"

"Hopefully she's dead," 64B said.

"Take that back...right...now."

"That was uncalled for 64B, A2's sacrifice was necessary for the advancement of androids and her death will not be in vain."

"'Sacrifice'?! ' _DEATH'_?! A2's not dead, she can't...she can't be dead!"

"It wouldn't be the first time she survived against impossible odds, but I wouldn't count on it," 8B said. "Listen, you're here with us now and there's no chance you'll see A2 again, so why don't you just comply and make this easier for the both of us?"

"You hurt A2 and tell me she's dead, then tie me up and you expect me to just shut up and listen to you?! Why would I ever do that?!"

"Because you're a human and humans are supposed to be these noble creatures, right? I know you wouldn't sit back and let this war perpetuate, let everyone suffer."

"Well, what am I supposed to do about it? I'm just one person, I can't go around ending wars by myself."

"You're not 'just' one person. You're a human, that makes you very important to us androids."

"I...don't understand. Why is me being human so important? Why am I worth hurting people?!"

"Because not a single android can ever be like you."

"Tch, so what's your big idea, huh? What am I gonna do so I can end this already?!"

" _I'm_  going to find a pod and broadcast that we're holding you hostage to the Commander, then we'll have command right where we want them."

"That plan's gonna fall apart immediately."

"Why's that?"

"Because you're relying on an android to do exactly what you say, but I think androids are just as unpredictable as any human."

She scoffed. "What would a human know about androids?"

"I know A2 pretty well."

"And see where that got you. 64B and 22B, watch the human and make sure he doesn't go anywhere, I'm going to communicate with other YoRHa deserters and retrieve the pod." Once 8B left via jumping out of a window, her subordinates approached Sora.

"Didn't know a human would be so loyal to an android," 64B said.

"A2's my friend! Then again, what would you know about having friends?"

"What're you talking about?"

"Ignore him 64B, he's just trying to get under your skin."

"No, I wanna hear what he has to say. So go on and say it, human."

"...There was another android looking for you, Number 4 Type S. Guess you abandoned him."

"4S..." She clenched her fist. "Of course I abandoned that fool! When all those machines started attacking us, he refused to leave his post no matter how many times I begged him. He rather die for nothing than disobey orders, I couldn't care less what happens to him."

"So just because he doesn't do what you say you don't care about him?! I don't get this war, I don't understand everything, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to be with A2!"

"Yeah, yeah, but you'd stop wanting to be with A2 if it meant you were hurting others," 22B said.

"Huh, what're you-"

Out of nowhere, the building received a massive tremor that shook its very foundation and debris began falling off what was left of the ceiling. "What the- what the hell's going on?!" 22B yelled.

"We'll figure that out later. Hurry up and get the human so we can get out of here," 64B said.

"R-Right!"

"I'm not going with you guys!"

"You are if you want to live, come on!" She broke Sora out of his chains, saving him from being crushed by a pile of rocks.

Sora resentfully followed the two androids out of the building where they witnessed a massive Goliath-class machine that could have easily been mistaken for another skyscraper in the City Ruins.

"Damn, get a load of that machine," 22B said.

"Good thing we're not the ones who have to fight it...hey, wait, I think we lost track of the human!"

"WHAT?! We need to go after him, where do you think he went?!"

"Aah, I see him over there, he's going back to the Flooded City!"

Sora ran down the open field, laying waste to any machine that dare cross his path. Maybe it was from his desperation physically manifesting or his powers coming back to him, but his keyblade took the form of Crystal Snow to reflect his need to reach A2 despite the world around him crumbling by the seams. With his new keyblade in his hand, he effortlessly sliced through machine after machine until a second Goliath-class machine stood in his way.

"This is gonna end right now!" Sora scaled the machine's body where he used blizzara to freeze its shoulder. The frigid temperature combined with excessive use on the machine's part caused the shoulder joint to shatter, bringing its entire left arm crashing to the ground.

"That should be enough to slow it down, now I need to get off of here," However, he wasn't able to leave his position since the machine was under heavy fire from two YoRHa flight units in the air. "Looks like I have to wait it out."

Eventually, the machine stopped making sweeping movements and began violently shaking in place instead which wasn't a good sign for Sora. ' _If I don't get off this machine now, I'll be taken down along with it.'_  He decided to take his chances and jump off the machine, not expecting for one of the flight units to catch him mid-air.

"Good thing this mecha caught me when it did!" He clutched onto the flight unit for dear life as it flew away to a safer location. Although his feelings of gratitude were short-lived once when he found out who was responsible for saving his life.

"Not you two again, 2B and 9S!" He summoned his keyblade.

"It's not like we're gonna do anything to you," 2B said.

"Yeah, we're here to protect you! I'm so happy to see you again, human!" 9S exclaimed.

"I'm not."

"Uh...I know we got off on the wrong foot last time we met, but let's start over, okay! I'd like to get to know you more!"

"You only care about me because I'm human, that's the reason why you're interested in me."

"Er, yeah, that's a big part of it, but you're also really cool just being yourself. I mean, I never expected anyone, let alone a human, to get on one of those Goliath-class machines and do that much damage."

"It was in the way...sorry, but I need to go, I have someone I need to find."

"You mean A2?"

"...We got separated from each other. Maybe we can talk some other time, but then you guys would try to kill her anyway."

"2B, what do we do now? We can't just let him walk away, but we also have to investigate those alien readings."

"The human takes top priority."

Sora didn't stop running until he reached the Flooded City where he was forced to stop because 64B and 22B stood in the way.

"We knew you'd come back here eventually," 22B said.

"Tell me where A2 is?!"

64B threw  _her_  Type-4O sword at Sora's feet. "Wherever she is, she's long gone. Heh, maybe she thought you abandoned her, that is if she survived."

"SHUT UP!" Sora pushed past the two androids, then jumped in the water, hoping they were wrong and that he'd miraculously find A2 floating along in the water, but there was nothing except for the ocean that spanned across the world. "...A2...I know you wouldn't just die...I know you're still alive somewhere."

With a heavy heart, he swam back to the surface where 64B and 22B were waiting for him. "You ready to come with us now?" 22B asked.

"一R010: Laser!"

64B and 22B jumped out of the way to avoid a powerful laser aimed at them.

"Damn it, it's more YoRHa androids! We can't take on the three of them," 64B said.

"What about the human? Our plans are ruined without him."

"We don't have a choice..." 64B gave Sora one last look. "Don't think this will be the last time you'll see us." With that, they disappeared to an unknown location, leaving Sora alone with 2B and 9S.

"You okay?" 9S asked, running up to him.

"Stop following me! I don't want you guys anywhere near me!"

"That's not happening," 2B said.

"Don't you have better things to do than follow me around?!"

"Our orders are to protect you whether you like it or not."

"... you really won't leave me alone?"

"Not unless we're ordered to otherwise."

"So what do you want? I'm not gonna stop looking for A2."

"You won't be very successful blindly wandering around. A2's constantly on the move since she's wanted by YoRHa," 9S said. "But maybe you can help us with our mission and you might run into her. Think about it, she's always hunting down machines and that's already what me and 2B do so you're bound to cross paths with each other. I know it's not ideal, but it's better than nothing."

"...fine, whatever."

"Awesome! We should introduce ourselves now that we're working together, I'm 9S and this is my partner 2B."

"...Sora." He mumbled. "What's this mission you guys are on anyway?"

"Apparently there are alien readings deep underground, like  _waaaay_  deep underground and we're gonna check it out."

"Aliens? So they're here now?"

"Yeah I guess, we might even be able to end this war between androids and machines depending on what we find," 9S said.

"If we're lucky," 2B said.

The three went ahead, leaving the Flooded City behind. Sora tried to keep to himself as he was unsure what to make of his new companions, after all, they were enemies not too long ago. Of course, that didn't stop 9S from bothering him, "Okay Sora, what do you think of us androids so far?"

He shrugged. "Not much. If I didn't know any better, I would think you guys were humans."

"Ha, that's kind of flattering in a way, but I think it's a good thing we androids aren't  _exactly_  like humans. I've read up on a lot of archives about some of the unnecessary functions humans had to do and is it true humans had to dispose of their waste every 15 minutes or was it...blah blah blah."

' _Geez is this how A2 felt?'_  "Look 9S, why don't you just talk to me like normal for once," Sora finally said. "I think me and you can be really good friends, but not if you're asking me a billion questions at once."

"Oh, sorry, guess I'm probably annoying you."

"Nah, you're not annoying, I'm just not exactly an expert on all this scientific stuff. Like I could tell you about my keyblade orrrr uh, um, give you life advice, I do that a lot."

"...life advice? That's pretty lame."

"Wha- no it's not! I'm pretty good at reading people and looking into their hearts."

"Riiiiight, if you're so great at giving advice, then what should I do to get 2B to stop ignoring me all the time?"

"2B...um, maybe talk to her about something that actually interests her. Girls like it when you get to know them."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, I'm not like asking for dating advice or anything!"

"Huh, even androids do dumb stuff like that?"

"We are built to imitate human behavior so it just kind of happens. If you don't mind me asking...have you ever been on a date?"

"Uh- yeah, plenty!"

' _Somehow I doubt he's telling the truth.'_

"Will you two be quiet? We're almost near our destination," 2B said.

Following the aftermath of the two Goliath's attack, a substantial area of the City Ruins collapsed in on itself, revealing a crater hidden beneath the centuries-old foundation of the city. They ventured forward into the excavated land, encountering linked-sphere type machines that slunk past rubble and machine remains littering the ground.

"Never seen that type of machine before," 9S said.

"So what?" 2B uploaded the Type-4O spear from her arsenal, then launched it at the machine's very apparent glowing weak spot in the middle of its segmentation, destroying it upon impact.

In an attempt to trap them, the last two machines coiled around them, but that proved to be a fatal mistake as it simply made it easier for 9S to hack and destroy one of the machines now that they were closer. The last machine escaped to the sky, far past their reach, in a last ditch effort to prolong its life.

2B and 9S fell back on homing missiles from their pods to finish it off, but Sora had a much faster way to defeat the enemy. He turned to 2B with an excited look spread across his face, "2B, I have an idea. Throw me in the air at that machine, I can deal with the rest from there!"

"Have you lost your mind?"

"Come on, I think it'll work!"

2B looked over to 9S for help who shrugged in response so she took Sora by the arm, assuming he was just as heavy as any regular android, and applied way too much force than what was necessary to propel him in the air.

While Sora was able to slice the machine in half with his keyblade, he flew way off course, so 2B had to rush over and catch him in her arms before he ended with the same fate as the machines.

Most surprising to 2B was that he didn't look at all phased from having a near-death experience. "You...aren't scared?" She asked.

"No...should I be?"

' _He knew I would save him even though he barely knows me.'_  "...I guess not, but next time you want to do something reckless like that I won't save you."

"Wait- what?"

She dropped Sora on the ground, then kept moving.

"Don't worry, 2B means well," 9S said.

' _Somehow I doubt he's telling the truth.'_

They reached a deep fissure that led to a cave underground. "Whoa, that's a long way down," Sora said.

"Sora, grab on," 2B said.

"Onto...what?"

"What else? Come on, we don't have time for this."

"Uh, no it's fine, I think I'll take my-"

2B effortlessly lifted Sora up with one hand now that she got a feel for his body weight, then used her pod to safely descend to the bottom with the other.

_'That was embarrassing, I guess she doesn't take no for an answer.'_

The three continued inside the cave, strangely enough, it was devoid of machine life. Yet an unshakeable, eerie presence still lingered within the walls and accompanied them like a tethered shadow each step they progressed.

"How can there be alien readings and no machines," 9S said.

"Maybe they're hiding somewhere," Sora suggested.

"That's not like machines, I think something happened to them."

"You don't say," 2B said.

Darkness devoured the cave and so 2B and 9S relied on their pods for illumination to navigate the rest of the way, but it wasn't that helpful considering 9S managed to trip on something anyway and fall down. "Ow! What was that?!"

2B shined her light on the culprit which happened to be a machine corpse. "...This one recently died."

Abruptly, the machine corpse began moving and Sora stabbed his keyblade through its head before it could come back to life. "We need to go before more show up!" So they kept going until the natural cave part ended and the futuristic metal tunnel that looked like it was ripped straight out of an old sci-fi movie began.

"Is...Is this the alien's base? Are they really here?" Sora asked.

"We'll have to find out," 2B said.

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Nonexistence**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’ve gotten a few comments about A2’s swearing and I was like ‘uh, maybe Sora should really tell her to hold back a little’ but then I came up with an even better idea to just remove from the story entirely and teach her a lesson. Problem solved ;)


	6. [O]ver and Over

As Sora, 2B and 9S investigated further into the alien facility, part of the backdrop opened up, allowing sunlight to bathe inside and shine a light on the situation. They could see clearly now the rotted alien corpses and necropolis of destroyed mother ships that stuck out of the ground like gravestones.

"Are they dead," 2B said.

"The aliens can't already be gone, can they?" 9S asked.

Sora's face twisted in disgust at the slimy, dried prune appearance of the aliens, not at all what he imagined them in his head to look like. ' _These guys are so gross looking. They're like, I don't know, they have a weird shape.'_  He reached his hand over to touch one, but 2B caught him dead in the act.

"Don't touch anything, Sora, you don't even know where they've been," She said.

"I don't think they've been anywhere in a long time," 9S said.

"一Precisely. Welcome...to the graveyard of our creators."

In the short time since they had last seen Adam and Eve, the brothers already drastically changed in appearance and distinguished themselves from each other, but they were both oozing out with more murderous intent than ever before.

"You!" 2B said.

Sora summoned his keyblade. "What do you guys want?!"

"Hm? It's you again from...the oasis, correct? You caused my brother and I quite a bit of trouble, but nothing we can't readily learn from. I believe I found a perfect countermeasure against the androids."

"What're you...talking about?"

"Why don't we show him right now, brother? I wanna get payback for what him and his friend did to me," Eve said.

"In due time. We still need to discuss negotiations with them."

"Why would we negotiate anything with you," 9S said. "If anything, you're the ones who should start doing some explaining here first!"

"Now you're making demands of me when you're clearly at a disadvantage? How presumptuous of you."

"You're the ones at a disadvantage because the three of us outnumber the two of you!" Sora said.

That got a chuckle out of Adam. "I see, in that case, let's start from the top, shall we? The aliens you seek are no longer here, they were wiped out centuries ago, by us...the machines."

"Wiped out?" 2B said.

"That's right, and who knows, maybe us machines will wipe out the androids next."

2B and 9S guarded Sora, ready for any attack from the brothers. However, for the time being, they stood their ground and Adam continued his monologue.

"Just like you androids, we machines are weapons capable of evolution. We can grow. We can become...aware. Eventually, the intelligence within our network began to surpass that of our creators. You'd probably be surprised of how quickly that happened."

"So you just destroyed your own creators," 9S said.

"Oh, there's no need to fret about them. They were simple. Infantile. Almost like...plants, I guess you'd say. They held no value to us, but the humans on the moon? Now THEY are interesting."

"Why them?" 2B asked.

"Because humans killed uncountable numbers of their own kind and yet loved in equal measure. They are beings with as much darkness in their hearts as there is light, yet so many chose to surrender to their own anger and hatred, those are the humans that fascinate me the most."

"You mean the bad guys..." Sora said.

"I wouldn't use such simple terms, although yes, I suppose they would be the antagonists. But, they're the ones who changed the course of history and I'm beginning to see why. Only when they succumbed to the darkness within themselves did they find true power."

"That's not true! A heart that's allowed darkness inside is the weakest of them all!"

"Heh, I beg to differ." He snapped his fingers and heartless clawed their way out of the depths of darkness into the world of light. "The more hate I had, the more these monsters showed up and they seem to follow whoever's the strongest."

' _They can control the heartless now?!'_

"Wh-what are those things?!" 9S demanded.

"I'm not sure myself, but I believe they're a byproduct of human society and thus they are key to our research."

"And they're no match for the androids. Not a single one of you guys could beat them," Eve said.

"But not to worry, we'll allow you to assist us in unraveling the secret of humanity if you can locate the humans on the moon and bring them to us. Maybe we'll even have a permanent solution for these monsters once we dissect and analyze them in order to drag their secrets forth into the light," Adam said. "Surely you see the attraction of this offer?"

"Are you insane?! We'd never do that, this guy must be bonkers if he thinks an android would ever betray humans like that," 9S said.

"Well, I suppose that concludes negotiations. The only remaining option is ... destroying you."

"No! I'm tired of everyone sacrificing themselves just to save me!" Sora thumped his hand on his chest. "If you're looking for a human一"

"Don't you dare say another word!" 2B snapped.

"Why?! They'll hurt you guys because of me! And I'm sick of it, I'm sick of all this fighting!"

"Then stay out of it! You aren't apart of this, so don't try and carry that burden all on your own!"

"But一"

"Just let an android do its job for once!"

"Yeah, we got your back, Sora. You can trust us," 9S said.

"Hm? What're you going on about? Let the boy speak if he knows about any humans," Adam said.

"We won't let you get anywhere near the humans on the moon!"

"Pity. I didn't want to have to resort to this, but you've left me no other choice. I apologize Eve, but you won't be getting your payback anytime soon."

"Hm, if that's what you think is best, brother."

At Adam's call, several more heartless emerged from the darkness into the alien facility.

In order to combat the darkness, 2B wielded Virtuous Treaty and Contract, her signature katanas that carried her effortlessly throughout her many battles. The thin, white blade sliced the heartless one after the other while 9S backed 2B up with pod fire to wipe out any outliers.

But it wasn't enough.

It wasn't enough to destroy the heartless and Sora knew as much. Of course, he wanted to place his faith in his new companions, but he knew no matter how many times they destroyed the manifestations of darkness, they would simply keep coming back, over and over again without end. ' _I'm sorry 2B and 9S, but I can't just stay back and do nothing.'_  His keyblade changed to Favorite Deputy, drawing from his own desire for strength to protect the androids, then he slammed the bulky keyblade right down the middle of the heartless swarm, releasing the hearts from their captivity.

"Sora!" 2B and 9S yelled.

"What an interesting development, not a single android could defeat those monsters, but you can? How is that possible..." Adam mused.

"Adam, you're finished!" Sora's keyblade transformed into a giant hammer and he swung it at Adam. Eve attempted to intercept it, but he underestimated the brute force of his attack and got swept up along with his brother, knocking them both to the ground.

Sora reeled his hammer back for the final blow, but the brothers teleported out of the way before his hammer could crush them.

"That's it, brother, I'm going to kill this pest!" Eve said.

"Not yet. There's something unusual about that android, no, I shouldn't even call him that..."

The pieces began to fall into place in Adam's mind until it constructed an image so he could see the truth. "I understand now. I understand exactly what you are." Adam approached Sora, then clasped his scaly hands on his shoulders. "You. You're the one who we've been searching for all this time... _YOU_! Heh heh, we're the ones who want to BE you and yet you're nothing more than a fool!"

"Get your hands off of him!" Adam was so absorbed by Sora, he didn't even register 2B's presence or when she sliced off his arms. Nothing even seemed to be real, not the pool of blood collecting around his feet or his dismembered arms that were stained a crimson red.

"BROTHER!" Eve screamed.

His brother's voice snapped Adam out of his fixation and brought him back to the harsh reality, but his priorities still remained within Sora, "Don't waste your energy on me. The human...securing the human's the only thing that matters right now!"

"Brother...but-"

"I'll be fine no matter the outcome, but the human's an opportunity we cannot pass up and I'm entrusting you to carry out that responsibility because you're  _my_  brother."

"Okay...Okay, brother! I won't let you down, I'll make you proud of me!"

"2B, 9S, I can handle Eve, you don't have to worry about me," Sora said.

"...fine, we'll take care of Adam," 2B said.

Eve's lips curled into his usual devilish smirk when he turned to face Sora. "Don't be so confident you can take me on that easily." Teleporting behind Sora, he slammed his leg on his back.

Sora used the hammer's weight to steady his balance, then propelled the hammer right back at Eve. Teleporting once again to avoid the attack, Eve re-appeared in the air above Sora's head and threw a wave of energy at him.

A quick application of 'protect' shielded the attack away from him and it was all he needed to transform his hammer into drill punch. "Alright, just like old times! You're in for it now, Eve!" He drilled into the metal floor, stripping away the futuristic machinery until he reached the soft dirt where he burrowed underground to evade Eve's next energy charged attack.

"Huh, did he...go underground?" Eve muttered, kicking at the loose soil particles.

All of a sudden, Sora shot out of the ground, knocking Eve in the jaw with his drill arm and sent him flying backward. While they were both in the air, Sora topped it off with a blizzara spell that froze Eve solid using the last bit of his strike form powers. "Hah...hah...that should do it." He breathed out.

With Eve incapacitated, 2B broke away from fighting Adam to stab his brother through the chest. "You're next," She said to Adam.

"...I don't think so." Heartless crawled over Adam's body, devouring him into oblivion and it didn't take long for the facility overflow in a sea of darkness as a last-ditch effort to end the androids once and for all. Fortunately, 2B and 9S were already on top of things and they used their own last resort, self-destruct function to create an opening for them to escape.

Pod 042: Incoming call from Operator

"What now," 2B said.

"2B, this is Operator 6O, we now have an operational transporter running in the- er...is this not the best time?"

"No, fill me in later!"

"Got it, be careful out there, 2B!"

The moment they were free from the cave's clutches, 2B used her pod to destroy the opening and seal off the darkness that dwell inside.

"Whew, that was a close one," 9S said.

"Too close..." 2B whipped her head to Sora. "Where the hell did you get off putting yourself in danger like that?!"

"I did it protect you guuuuuu一" Sora's eyes innocuously drew downwards and he wasn't prepared to see 2B's lack of clothes below her waist. He awkwardly turned his head the other way and his cheeks flushed a dark shade of red.

"Look at me when I'm speaking to you!"

"I, um, I don't think I should," He croaked.

"9S, what's wrong with him?"

"How should I know?!"

"Weren't you talking to him earlier?"

"Yeah, that was small talk!" 9S shook his head. "Hey, you alright Sora, what's wrong?"

"Uh...er, what happened to 2B's sk...skirt?"

"When we self-destruct, some articles of clothing are lost due to our heat dissipation system," 9S said.

"I don't have time for this, we need to report back to the Bunker," 2B turned back and found Jackass leaning beside a newly built access point. "You again..."

"Hey how's it hangin'? Oh, man, you aren't looking too hot."

"-Heeeey! It's you, from the desert!" Sora ran up to Jackass. "It's good to see you again!"

"You're with these two now? What, A2 finally get on your nerves?"

He rubbed the back of his head. "No...we got separated. You haven't seen her anywhere around here, have you?"

"Nope, sorry kid. A2's pretty much impossible to find, believe me."

"Oh..."

"Er- maybe not  _impossible_ , just a royal pain in the ass. I'm guessing that's why you guys never completed the sidequest I gave you."

"Something like that. Sorry."

"Look, enough talking, what're you even down here for, Jackass?" 2B asked.

She knocked on the access point. "You're looking at it. Just built this baby and I even got the stupid transporter up and running while I was at it."

"Um, thank you?" 9S said.

"It wasn't my idea to help you guys, I've known the Commander for some time now and it's just like her to pawn her work off on people. Next time you see her, give her some lip for me, will ya?"

"So this has a transporter now, huh," 2B said.

"Yeah they're pretty handy, definitely gonna make travel  _way_  faster now since we don't have to rely on those flight units to travel from Earth to the Bunker," 9S said.

"Then let's get going. The Commander's going to personally want to see Sora for herself."

"Hold on 2B, Sora won't be able to use the transporter."

"Why's that?"

"Transporters work by transferring your consciousness to a temporary body back in the Bunker, but there's only one of Sora, it can't transfer him anywhere."

"I see."

"Relax, I'll be fine down here on my own," Sora said.

"So you can escape? That's not happening. I'll just relay the information to the Commander by myself. 9S, you stay here with Sora on the surface and we'll rendezvous at the Resistance Camp."

"Roger that! Looks like you're with me, Sora."

There was a convenient ladder that took the boys back to the surface where they headed down to the Resistance Camp. "Hey, you mind if we rest up for a while, 2B  _never_  wants to take a break!" 9S said once they reached the camp.

"Sure, I don't mind."

He led Sora into a small, old room near the entrance. From the looks of all the boxes and shelves lining the wall, it had been used as a storage area prior and the two beds were a recent addition. Nonetheless, 9S made himself at home and eased back on one of the beds. "Maaaan, I feel like it's been forever since I've relaxed on a bed before, I'm starting to think 2B's taking after the Commander!"

"Uh huh."

"Sora..."

"Hm?"

"You okay? You got that look on your face."

"I do? Sorry, my mind's on other things. Wait, how come you and 2B can see with that blindfold on anyways?"

"Because they're visors that enhance our vision, guess you wouldn't be able to tell."

"Oh. My friend wore a blindfold too a while ago, I think he told me it was so his eyes couldn't lie or something like that."

"You...you must miss all your friends and family on the moon, it's probably lonely just being stuck here with us androids, but the Commander said they're working on some sort of transportation for you."

"Um, yeah, I do miss my friends on the... moon. I miss them a lot, but being here with you guys isn't so bad."

"Really, after everything me and 2B put you through? I bet being with A2 wasn't exactly easy either."

"No, A2's kind of terrifying, but...even though we had our ups and downs, I enjoyed every moment I spent with her."

"I didn't know A2 meant that much to you."

"My friends mean everything to me, I am who I am because of them. I just wish I knew if she was okay..."

一

"...Sora..."

But when she woke up, A2 saw two androids; Popola and Devola, twin sisters with bright red hair and personalities that set them further apart than their own appearances did.

"Thank goodness you're finally awake," Popola said.

"Yeah, we thought you were dead."

"Devola, don't say things like that!"

"...Who are you two?"

"I'm Poploa and this is my sister Devola. We were on our way to the Resistance Camp, but we saw you lying unconscious on one of the buildings in the Flooded City so we decided to help you out."

"Oh...thanks for that. I'm A2."

"Not a problem. If you don't mind me asking A2, are you looking for someone?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

"Because we saved your life and you owe us that much," Devola said.

"Come on Dev, she's our patient. We're not trying to interrogate her."

"Damn it, I need to get out of here." A2 struggled on her feet, then attempted to drag herself out of whatever empty building she was in this time, but she ended up falling back on the ground.

"Hey, you shouldn't push yourself," Devola said. "We were able to fix your NFCs and all the super important junk, but most of your body cavity was filled with water and it irreparably damaged some of your internal mechanisms. Sorry."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means you're not going to be able to fight like you used to, at least not anytime soon." Devola helped A2 up to her feet. "Just stay here and take it easy for a while, okay?"

"No...no...I HAVE to fight, I can't stop, not when he's still out there!"

"Whoever you're looking for, we can help you find him," Popola offered.

"Uh, who said we'd do that," Devola said.

"Look, you two don't have to help me any more than you already have. I can tell you two aren't built for combat, so just leave me alone!"

"And let hours of work go to waste? I don't think so."

"Right, er...maybe not in  _that_  way, but we're coming with you until we know you'll be okay on your own," Popola said.

"Both of you are so pushy, tch, whatever."

The twins followed A2 outside who paused after seeing the sheer amount of destruction that had befallen the City Ruins. "What the hell happened here?" She asked.

"Some machines attacked the place," Devola said matter-of-factly.

"You don't say. I bet that kid got himself wrapped up in this mess."

"This kid you're looking for sounds like a pain."

"Heh, no more than I am. Now come on, I'm sure he's down there somewhere." They ventured into the excavated land and the heaps of machine scraps began piling up. "A fight took place here. From the looks of it, it must have been a new type of machine."

"Wow, you sure know a lot about machines, I guess I should expect that from a YoRHa android," Popola said. "Speaking of, why's your uniform so different from the other ones?"

"I...don't wear one."

A2 stopped walking once they reached the drop-down point that would lead to the underground cave. "This is...hold on, there's a ladder we can take." The girls continued their search at the bottom, the murky water splashing on their ankles as they waded across the underground chamber.

"This place is giving me the creeps," Devola said. "You sure your friend is down here?"

"I have a feeling he came through here."

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "You...have a feeling? Which means you don't know if he's down here for sure."

"Look, you're the idiots who wanted to follow me around. This is how I do things."

"Yeah, we're definitely the idiots."

While Devola and A2 were arguing, Popola wandered around until she found something that sparked her curiosity, or rather, sent a chill up her circuits. "-Hey look guys, I think you should check this out. The entrance here is sealed off."

The two of them joined Popola.

"Wonder what happened here," Devola said.

"Someone intentionally closed this off." Running her hand along the rocks, A2 found a piece of fabric sticking out from a crevice and yanked it away. ' _This belongs to him. So does that mean he's trapped in there?'_

A2 slammed her leg on the pile of rocks only for her it to snap off and fall down into the water. After re-attaching her leg, she pounded her fist on the rock wall, screaming Sora's name over and over again until it became clear he wasn't going to respond. With one last murmur of his name, she spiraled into a fit of rage and spite at the world because it was this shitty world that was against her and this shitty world that took everything away from her.

"This is how it always fucking ends."

"A2..." Popola grasped her hands, giving them a tight squeeze. "It's going to be okay, just calm down. Getting so worked up like this will only hurt yourself."

A2 could feel the dread taking her heart captive, a feeling she so desperately tried to escape all these years, yet there it was again like it never left. "...I don't know what to do..." She admitted.

"Look at me A2, we weren't here, none of us were. So don't assume the worst happened to your friend," Popola said.

"... Even if he is alive, I have no idea where the deserters dragged him off to. It's all my fault, if I wasn't such a fucking idiot, then maybe he'd still be here with me."

Devola and Popola exchanged worried glances with each other.

"A2, do you drink?" Devola asked suddenly.

"Um, Dev, how about some words of encouragement instead of feeding into bad behaviors!"

"Yeah, what do you got? I'm not picky."

"Hard liquor."

"-Excuse me, are you guys even listening to me?!"

"Relax Popola, when I'm having a crappy day, a few drinks always makes me feel better."

"Fine, whatever, if you think it'll be good for A2, then go ahead. Just leave me out of it."

A few more drinks than the two androids should've had later and they crossed way past the point of no return into drunken territory.

"Dev...Devola...why the #$%* is there two of you..." A2 said after finishing off another glass.

"I'm her twin sister, there's not two of Devola," Popola said, already irritated.

"Huh...what...what're you talkin' bout?"

"POpOLa! I want moooore, this glas...suh...isn't gonna fill itself," Devola said.

"Silly, you two already finished off the last of the booze."

"WH-Wha, that sucks. Heyy A2?"

", yeah?"

"Ur so prehtty, did ya know that? Sooo pretty."

"But I don't think so. You sure?"

"Nah, I mean it, you're really rrally pretty. Me-YOW!" She caressed A2's cheek, then pulled in close as if she was going to kiss her, but instead pressed her forehead onto her's and gazed into her eyes. "Did I...Did I ever tell you how. how prehtty your eyes are? They're so empty. How is that even PAWssible?"

She smiled, in a creepy sort of way. "...there's...there's #%?&8$6 nothing left inside of me...that's why."

"Ohhh? Huhhh?"

"The god%#?* machines...they're the only reason...the only reason I'm aliive."

"A2, are you even listening to yourself?" Popola asked. "You're starting to worry me."

"No-no, I'm fiiiiine." She clung onto Popola's body. "Look, I'm fine, see? I dont wanna die anymore cuz the machines need to die. i do it for numbeh 4...and 16 and 21. I do it for them...but then that &%#%$7 that %#5&7  _he_ told me that..."

"What did he tell you?"

"...that...he caresabout what happens to ME? Can you believe that? I dont even care about me, but he told me he cares. And I never forget that #%*6& said that to me, I never, ever, everrrrrrr forget."

"He must be a very special person to you

"Yeah, yeah. WHATever. Can I tell you a #8&^# ssecret Dev #2?"

"That's not my name, but sure, you can tell me anything."

"I care about sora...I like it when he talks to me , and when he smiles , I can't %$#*&^2 describe it, but I thiiiiiink he messed me up."

"I don't understand?"

"Dev #2, listen, listen , okay? I hate when he sad. He's sad cuz he's lost from home...but I wanna him to stay ...stay with me in this terrrrrrrrible world. I don't want him to be happy. I want him to be MISERABLe with me. Is that bad? Am I bad person?"

"No, I don't think it makes you a bad person. We all feel that way about someone, but if he's lost, then he has to go back home eventually, even if it hurts you."

"...even if it hurts me..." A2 let go of Popola, then shut down.

"Wow, that was  _great_  advice," Devola said.

"You're supposed to be drunk Devola!"

She shrugged. "It passes through my system pretty quickly. You think A2's okay though? She sounds pretty messed up."

"Yeah, I know. She has me worried."

"At least we got all the information out of her from that booze."

" _That's_  why you wanted to drink? Ugh...you couldn't have just asked her?"

"You and I both know she wasn't gonna tell us anything. Now about this 'Sora' kid, he must be a regular android with a name like that."

"Great deduction skills, Dev."

"I'm not done yet. So not only did YoRHa deserters take him away, but he's also lost from his home. What would deserters want with a regular android and where's this so-called 'home'?"

"You're way overthinking this. It doesn't matter who Sora is to us."

"I know, but you remember the rumors we heard flying around about a human with a rogue YoRHa android? It was like some kind of sick joke. I didn't believe it..."

"How could we believe anything from a bunch of androids running us out of town?"

"That's why I wanna know if there really is a human out there and if this 'Sora' person could be him, maybe then we can be put at rest and this pain can finally stop."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Blankness**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	7. Chain of [M]emories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since this is chapter 7 for 7 lights, thought I'd say thanks again for the comments, I read and re-read and then re-read them all one more time because it's so exciting for people to actually be interested in a story I write. It's especially interesting when y'all break down my own fic and can make all these insightful comments or predict where the plot's going. It's what I look forward to each time I post a new chapter and that can't be understated.
> 
> As for whether this story will have a happy ending or not, It'll be bittersweet. Leaning more so on a kh style ending than a Nier one.

_I want to run._

_I want to run far away._

_No androids, no machines, no...humans_

_That's where I want to be._

"Wha...what the hell happened? My head's killing me..." A2 mumbled.

"Your body shut down and had to restart itself," Popola said.

"Huh? How long was I out?"

"Just a few hours."

"Oh man...that's not good. Uugh." She used her sword to stand herself up.

"Where are you going?" Popola asked.

"Not far in the state you're in," Devola said.

"Ugh, ignore her, A2."

"...I'm going to hunt down more machines. That's the only thing I'm good at."

"You sure that's the best idea? I mean, Dev's kind of right, you're still not fully recovered yet."

"I don't care. You two wanna help, then tell me where the strongest machines are."

"You...aren't going to look for your friend?"

A2 didn't answer, letting her silence speak for itself.

"We heard rumors about a machine called the 'forest king' in the forest kingdom. It's not too far off from here actually, it's just past the bridge," Devola said.

"What's wrong with you, Dev?! She's clearly not in the right state of mind, you're not helping her!"

"Murdering every single machine is pretty therapeutic if you ask me," A2 said. "And I get you're worried about me Popola, but I was built to fight machines."

"You're also built to protect humans," Popola said.

"...what do you mean?"

"Dev and I heard rumors about a human traveling around with a YoRHa android, and we'd like to know if Sora could be human for personal reasons I guess you could say."

' _So they want to find Sora too? I won't make the same mistake of telling them he's human.'_  "I don't know anything about any humans...Sora's dead anyway so just drop it."

"You don't know that for sure, A2!"

"Well, I didn't ask for your goddamn opinion!"

"Why are you adamant in believing he's gone, excuse me for overstepping my boundaries, but it's almost like you just want to forget all about him! Maybe that's easier for you than to face a reality where he might actually be..."

Clenching the handle of her blade to relieve the tension pulsating inside her, A2 revolved her head back to meet Popola. The sorrow and anger that was once intrinsic to A2 drowned away into nothingness, leaving a vacancy in A2's eyes and a robotic nature to her presence.

Perhaps it was an attempt to distance herself from her own humanity, to protect herself from those trappings only a human heart could bring, but it told Popola more of her inner turmoil than words could convey.

"Maybe you're right, but I don't know what else to do or where else to go and he's not here to tell me to stop...so I'm not stopping."

Devola grabbed Popola's arm, pulling her close. "Then do that with your own life. We'll just find Sora without you."

* * *

"So between 2B and A2, who would try to kill you and who would actually kill you?" 9S asked.

"That's easy. A2 would try to kill me and 2B would actually kill me," Sora said.

"Aah, yeah you're definitely right. Now it's your turn to ask me something."

"Okay, uh, how come there's not a lot of male androids?"

"Because they only produce Type S models like me, they said male models weren't good at teamwork so they limited production."

"That makes sense, we just want to do our own thing, but android girls are so scary you end up doing what they say anyway."

"I know what you mean, are human girls like that too, like androids?"

"Sure, some of them are, but some of them are different too."

"Different how?"

"I don't know, I can't really describe it." Sora shifted uncomfortably. "Some girls are sweet and kind, and...they're just so amazing that you can't get them out of your head. And you think about them so much that it hurts because you don't even know if she's okay or if she's hurt...or sad and lonely..."

"Hey, Sora, you alright? You're...crying."

"I-I'm not crying, I'm perfectly fine!" He wiped his tears away with his arm.

"Don't worry, you'll see her again soon, I just know it! And when you do, you can take her out one of those dates and if everything goes well you can initiate intercourse with her. At least, according to the human archives, that's generally how it goes."

"Uh-  _WHAT_?!" He could feel that familiar burning sensation in his face and creeping up his throat.

Sora's reaction deeply fascinated 9S so he probed the keyblade wielder even further to see if he could elicit another response. "That was just a joke, relax." He elbowed Sora in the stomach. "I know you humans only perform that practice on the  _second_  date, right?"

"Oh no no no, you're waaaay off base!" Rolling out of the bed, Sora stretched his arms out. "I'm gonna go outside and take care of some business, let me know when 2B comes back."

"Mm, alright. 2B should be returning soon, she doesn't like to waste time."

"Got it, I won't be gone long." He went outside and found a nearby tree to take a leak on, his mindset slipping into a false sense of security. However, he forgot to take into account the ever-present machines lurking around and would've got his head blown off by a deadly laser if the machine's head didn't get blown off first.

2B flung the machine oil off her sword as to not sully the blade, then was about to approach Sora to give him her usual rundown of 'be aware of your surroundings' or 'don't wander off next time', but she stopped herself and instead asked, "...what're you doing?"

"Uh...um..." He wracked his brain for an answer that wouldn't end up in having to endure a  _very_  awkward conversation, but he could only draw blanks.

"-Hey 2B, looks like you found Sora," 9S said, walking up behind her.

' _It just keeps getting worse.'_

"What is he doing?" 2B reiterated to 9S.

He shrugged. "A human thing?"

"I thought you knew a lot about humans."

"I don't know everything!"

"Clearly."

After finishing up, Sora made the dreaded walk of shame back to his android companions.

"You don't have to explain yourself. 9S, you're going to keep track of these 'human things' so they don't slow us down in the future," 2B said.

"What, are you  _serious_?!" Sora and 9S both exclaimed in completely different tones.

"Yes. Now about our next mission, we need to gather intel on 'Pascal'."

"Ugh, not the freaky machine again," 9S said.

"Stop complaining. Any further developments on machines are vital for future missions, besides, the Commander wasn't happy about Sora's involvement with Adam and Eve, so Pascal's village will be a nice change of pace."

"Ooh, I get it, I bet the Commander gave you an earful. What about the status of the human transportation vehicle?"

"They're making progress, but it won't be done for a few days. They want to make  _absolute_ sure Sora can get to the moon safely."

"Right, right. That's the top priority."

"-What're you guys talking about?" Sora asked.

"It's none of your concern," 2B said. "Is there anything else you need to take care of before we head out?"

"Now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry."

"Not right now."

"Wait, so why'd you even ask me if you were just gonna turn me down?"

2B walked away without further explanation.

"Don't sweat it Sora, I think that's 2B's way of saying she'll just catch something for you later."

"Sounds good to me." He rested his hands behind his head, a habit he hadn't caught himself doing in a while. "What's this Pascal's village place about anyway?"

"It's a village full of pacifist machines," 9S said.

"There are pacifist machines?"

"I thought it was suspicious too, at first, but they haven't done anything yet I guess. You have to see for it yourself to know what I'm talking about."

They reached a wall of tangled construction beams that served as a barrier between the City Ruins and Pascal's village. After crossing into machine territory, there was a new change of scenery from the vast, empty land to a lush, green forest.

Eventually, they came across a makeshift bridge and Sora saw the so-called machine village for the first time; an enormous tree served as the center of the village, with most of the construction circling around the base of the tree. In a way, it reminded Sora of home with how the machines played off each other, almost like a family, an aspect that was missing from the militaristic society of the androids.

"Hello, we've been waiting for your arrival," The guard machine said.

Sora looked back to 2B and 9S who shook their heads, then he pointed at himself. "Who, me?"

"Yes, of course, you're the human."

"How do you know he's human?" 2B asked.

"The entire village knows of the human's existence."

"I guess we shouldn't be surprised since all of YoRHa already knows so it was bound to spread," 9S said.

"Wait, so what do you guys want with me?" Sora asked.

"Nothing sinister if that's what you're thinking. The village leader, Pascal, can explain our intentions far better than I ever could."

"Pascal, huh."

"Let's go," 2B said.

Sora picked up a few curious stares from the villagers as they made their way down. Although the curious stares quickly turned into a large following and by the time they reached Pascal, practically half the village joined them.

"Oh my, you've gathered quite the crowd," Pascal said, humoring the situation.

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't be. My name is Pascal and we welcome you to this village with open arms."

"And I'm Sora. What's the deal with this place anyway?"

"I'm glad you asked. This village is unique in that we are machines who do not wish to harm others and want nothing more than to live in peace."

"What made you guys change?"

"Personally speaking, I've been alive for hundreds of years and I've witnessed many of my friends die, but that isn't what scares me. What scares me is that I've grown used to seeing those I care about die all around me. That's why I decided I'd had enough, I can't speak on the behalf of the others, but we've all come to the same conclusion and cut ourselves from the machine network."

"Aside from this village, are there any other machines that are cut off from the network?" 2B asked.

"Hmm... I suppose that unpleasant songstress you so kindly defeated in the amusement park wasn't part of the network."

"You mean that singing thing? We were in the middle of locating Sora when we received a distress call," 9S said.

"Oh, and of course there's the Forest Kingdom, but-"

"Forest Kingdom?"

"Yes, it's a vast woodland area not far from here. There were a group of machines attempting to build a nation of sorts, but most of them were mysteriously wiped out."

"What do you mean, 'mysteriously wiped out'?" 9S asked.

"They're hostile to outsiders, so I wasn't able to witness it myself, but I was told it happened almost overnight. It was something like a virus or invader of sorts that wreaked havoc, a few machines managed to escape and they took refuge in this village which is how I know at all. They should be on the lowest level if you're curious, but I wouldn't expect much as they're still very traumatized by the experience."

2B and 9S departed to investigate while Sora stayed behind, "Pascal..." He said.

"Yes, Sora? You look troubled, is something wrong?"

"...I destroyed so many machines, I didn't know they could change and have emotions and stuff..." He clenched his fists. "And now they can't ever have that because of me!"

"No, don't blame yourself, those machines made their choice and you were only doing what you had to do in order to survive. I know humans aren't perfect, noble creatures, but you all have the ability to learn and grow from your mistakes. Which is an aspect of humanity that fascinates me the most, and one I try to imitate."

"Then there really isn't a difference between us."

"While that's very flattering, I wouldn't give us machines such high praise. Seeing you now, I realize how vastly different we are from each other."

"...that doesn't mean you don't have a heart."

"一Sora!" 9S pushed past the machines to get to him. "One of the forest kingdom machines is acting weird! I think it might be from the monsters we fought in the alien facility!"

"I'll be right there!" Jumping off the village platform, he landed on the forest floor where a machine clad in medieval armor was freaking out while his body was barely being held together.

"It's back, no...NO, not again!" The other forest kingdom machine cried out, cowering in fear along with the rest of the machines.

Amidst all the chaos, Sora calmly approached the machine, then pinned him down to the ground where he stabbed him straight through the chest. "There, it's over, you don't have to hurt anymore," He said, reeling his keyblade back.

"Oh my goodness, what was that?" Pascal asked, running over to the machine's side.

"The heartless, they're monsters who take captive of people's hearts... I need to go to this Forest Kingdom right now, where is it?!"

"Just northeast of the City Ruins, past the commercial facility."

"Okay, if this happens again, you have to let me know right away because only I can defeat the heartless!"

"Of course. I'll make sure no one leaves the village for the time being. Be careful out there and best of luck."

"You don't gotta worry about me!"

Before Sora could leave, the other forest kingdom machine scrambled over to him, practically falling apart himself. "Please, please, please, I beg of you to save the king in our place! There's an android...a scary android...who's killing what little remains of our nation and she won't stop until the king is dead. You have to save the king, then I can die in peace."

With the words 'save the king' drifting in his mind, he rushed out of the village, that annoying selfless hero part of Sora back at the forefront. After all, saving people was what he did best and he still felt a little guilty for destroying so many machines, he figured rescuing a king would be enough to settle the debt.

Selfless hero aside, it quickly became apparent to Sora that he had no idea where he was going or what a commercial facility even was. So he stood around and waited for 2B and 9S to catch up and point him in the right direction.

"...Stop running off without warning," 2B said.

"Sorry about that. Where's the uh, 'commercial facility' anyway? It sounds like a high-tech secret base or something."

"Not exactly."

9S finally caught up to them after lagging behind. "Hah, hah- you guys are so fast, I can't keep up with you two!" Once he caught his breath, he went into his usual rant, "Man, the work just keeps piling, I thought we needed to keep it easy for Sora's sake."

"We don't get to choose our assignments, and as long as Sora's with us, he'll be safe. You need to keep your opinions in check, YoRHa aren't allowed to show emotion, remember?"

"I think some of us are better at that than others."

"What's wrong with showing emotions, aren't you guys tryna be like humans?" Sora asked.

"Emotions serve no purpose on the battlefield. Now let's stop wasting time and go."

2B led the way and they went across a very narrow and very shaky suspension rope bridge. "Sure is a long way down, huh," Sora remarked.

"You don't sound scared," 9S said.

"Nah, I used to fall down from super tall heights for my dive attack all the time. I'd show you guys right now, but 2B would probably freak out."

"You are  _not_  jumping off this bridge," 2B said.

"See what I mean? It may not look like it, but I'm pretty much fall damage proof."

"I'll just take your word for it. You are kind of strange, even by human standards," 9S said.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Enough talking, we're here," 2B said.

Unlike what Sora imagined, the commercial facility had long been taken over by vegetation and was basically an extension of the forest itself with a rotted building attached to it. "According to human records, this facility was once known as a 'shopping center', although Sora would know best," 9S said.

"Oh yeah, they called places like these a 'mall'. You'd usually go there to shop for clothes or just goof off with your friends."

"Really? I bet it was fun to shop at the mall back when you had so many choices."

"We have no need for such things," 2B said.

"I wouldn't be too sure. Once we eradicate the machine lifeforms, us soldiers won't have anything left to do and we'll enter a new age of peace. And...when that happens, you and I should go shopping together!"

"And?"

"And I could buy you, I dunno, a t-shirt maybe. Something that looks good on you."

"A t-shirt."

"Mm hm, or anything you'd like, really. So what do you say?"

"...When that day comes, I'm all for it."

"You promise, right?"

"Yep."

"Wow, sounds like you two are going on a date~" Sora said.

" _WHAT_?! Nonononono, that's the  _exact_  opposite of what I said! Wait- I know, Sora, you're gonna come with us so we can all hang out together as...friends."

"Of course, I wouldn't mind hanging out with you guys."

"A less colorful outfit would suit you," 2B said.

"So all black clothes like you guys? Yeah, no thanks. And how big is this mall anyway, feels like we've been walking around forever."

"That's because we've been walking in circles. There's no getting through to the other side."

"Maybe there's some kind of mechanism we could engage?" 9S suggested.

Pod 042: Alert. Multiple machine lifeforms detected around current position.

"So much for the machines being wiped out," 2B said, drawing her sword.

However, these machines were different, with open tears and missing pieces in their metal bodies where a black substance seeped out. Instead of attacking the androids, they were trying to hold down a machine that was perfectly intact.

"s̴͝a̷̙͑c̷̥͊r̷̡̿ĩ̴̗f̸̫̏ḯ̸̜c̷̛ͅĕ̸̟.̵͕͐.̶͇̉.̴͓̌s̶̪͛ă̶̳c̴͉̅r̶͂͜i̶̲͛f̵̀͜i̸̟̓c̸̜̕e̸͉̍.̶̱̿.̶̺̓.̶͌ͅs̶͔͑u̴̮͐f̵̜͐f̷͚̕e̶͖̕r̸̭͝ ̸̘͝a̴͇̽s̷͚̅ ̷͙͑ẇ̶͓e̸̺̔ ̷͛͜d̴̞͌í̸̬ḓ̴͑!" The possessed machine chanted.

"ȏ̶͚ủ̸̡r̵̤͋ ̶̗̈k̵̫̊i̷̻͑ṋ̷̉g̷̙͂.̶͉́.̸̩̐.̴̟̂o̸͕͝ụ̶̎ṛ̵͌ ̶̞͝k̵̢̄i̸̙̐ṇ̵͆g̸̢͑"

"What the- what's going?!" 9S yelled.

"It doesn't matter!" Leaping high up in the air, 2B slammed her sword down on one of the possessed machines, splitting it open and unveiling the heartless. "Sora!"

"Right behind you!" He came up from behind 2B and slashed the heartless out of existence.

"Geez, those guys are creepy. What do you think they're saying?" 9S asked.

"More meaningless conjecture, focus on fighting for once," 2B said.

"What, I'm a scanner type! Being inquisitive is literally built into me, fighting isn't my forte."

"So hack them!"

He shook his head. "Those machines are long gone."

"What?!" She decided not to think about it too much and directed her pod at the possessed machines. "Pod, initiate missile launch. Sora, you handle the rest."

With the two of them working together like a well-oiled machine, it didn't take long to end the possessed machine's suffering until only one machine remained.

"What should we do now?" Sora asked.

"Finish it off." 2B threw her sword at the head, causing it to fall off the body, rather than explode in typical machine fashion. "Now what?"

Unexpectedly, the machine head cracked open like a shell and revealed another off-putting head inside. "Uuugh...huh? Hey, where am I?" Emil muttered.

2B and Sora turned to 9S, thinking he knew, but he shook his head in confusion. "...I have no idea either."

"Uh, hey, what's up you guys?"

"This thing's weird. Let's kill it," 9S said.

"Good idea."

"Hold on you two. You can't just kill things you don't understand," Sora said.

"R-Right, thanks mister! We were all running away from those monsters until those other guys got caught and they ended up chasing me instead! Although...the monsters kind of look familiar, I don't remember where, but I've definitely seen them somewhere else before a long, long time ago."

"Wait, you know about the heartless?" Sora asked.

"No, that's not what they were called. I think it started with an 'S', it's not really important."

"If he knows he might be working for them," 2B said. "All the more reason to kill him."

"What?! No, I'm out of here!" Emil knocked a wall out in order to escape, which just so happened to be their way out.

"...2B," Sora said.

"Don't give me that look, he was going to get in the way," 2B said. "Now come on."

"Looks like the forest is just up ahead," 9S said.

The forest zone had been yet another region that stood the test of time, towering trees easily dwarfed the three of them in terms of size and it boasted a dense overgrowth of plants and wildlife. On the horizon was a colossal castle fit for a machine king where they set their sights on next, but a wide ravine separated the forest from the castle and prevented them from advancing on their current route.

"How are we supposed to get over there?" 9S asked.

"We'll have to find another way," 2B said.

Not even the beauty of the forest could hide the suffocating atmosphere and the underlying darkness that accompanied them on their journey throughout the woodlands. Every step further they progressed revealed more and more machine corpses and scattered machine parts hiding in the grass or floating along in the water. The worst offender was a mutilated machine nailed down to a tree like a warning for all passersby to turn back.

"What happened here, this can't be the work of those monsters," 9S said.

"No, these marks are too exact and deliberate. It was from an android," 2B said.

' _This is awful, not even A2 would do something like this.'_ "I know androids don't like the machines, but this is going way too far," Sora said.

"An android who went nuts, that's for sure," 9S said. "No one right in the head would waste their energy like this."

"Great, another crazy android."

"Crazy android?"

"Yeah, me and A2 encountered this violent android who kept killing other androids and she acted like it was her job or something."

"What? I never heard of that, you 2B?"

"..."

"Ẇ̶̗e̸̻̔ ̵̙͝m̷͚͛u̶̮͝ṡ̴̪t̷͓̽ ̵̣̽p̷̩̍r̸̭͑ỏ̵͇t̷̟̃e̴̮̽c̵̖̓t̸̗̋ ̸͇̊o̴͑͜u̶̅͜r̷̖͐ ̴̪͂k̸̺̀i̵̩͝ń̵̯g̵̭̀ ̸̞͂a̵͚̚n̴̤͝d̶̻̀ ̸͙̓k̷̗̓ǐ̷͔n̷̑ͅg̷̢̀d̸̖̓ỏ̶̤m̷̛̩!"

"A̸͓͗l̴̞̎l̴̼̿ ̴͚̃h̸̭͠a̶͕̒ḯ̶̜l̴̮͋ ̷̛̼ẗ̷̩ḣ̵͓ê̸̩ ̸̗̔k̶̦̓i̸̬͊n̴̘̄ġ̵̖"

"-More creepy machines are coming our way, watch out you guys!"

"I know what I'm doing 9S, you just be careful." 2B directed her pod at the incoming machines. "Pod, initiate R050: Spear, charge level 2. 9S, Sora, back me up while this gets ready." She held her position for the time being while Sora and 9S destroyed any approaching machine.

"Behind me, now," 2B said.

A mass of energy in the shape of spears sprouted from the ground in an X-formation, impaling the rest of the machines. To finish the job, Sora released the darkness from the machines, ensuring they'd never awake from their grave again.

"Us three make a great team, huh," 9S said. "Oh- Sora, I've been meaning to ask you something!"

"What is it?"

"Since we're on pretty good terms now, I don't mind if you call me 'Nines'. That's what my friends call me."

"Nines? Okay, I like it. How come 2B never calls you Nines?"

"Because 9S works just fine," 2B said.

"Aaaand there you go."

"Heh heh. You're so serious, 2B," Sora said.

"If I wasn't both of you would get killed, so stop with the idle chatter and focus on the objective."

Pod 042: Incoming call from Operator

"Operator 6O to 2B, it's time for your regularly-scheduled一 Oh my gosh, wait, is that the human?! I've always wanted to meet him!"

"Huh, who are you?" Sora asked.

"I'm Operator 6O, I work at the Bunker!"

"Hey, I'm Sora, nice to meet you!"

"Sora, like the sky? That's such a cute name. So how do you like it so far on Earth, a human hasn't been on the surface in thoooousands of years. You'll totally be the talk of the town whenever you get back to the moon base."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Don't be modest. You have to tell me how life is like for humans on the moon base, no androids have actually ever been there before. Like, are human girls any nicer than the androids because-"

"What does that have to do with our operation?" 2B cut off.

"What, don't tell me you two don't bombard him with questions about human life all the time."

"Sora's not very helpful in that department, trust me," 9S said.

"And asking him about those things has no bearing on completing missions," 2B said.

"That's so like you, 2B. But I'm pretty sure it'll be useful in some cases, like for instance, did you know if humans don't eat or drink water after a few hours they'll DIE?!"

"He'll  _what_?"

"I'd check the validity of those claims," 9S said.

"Trust me, I do a lot of research on humans in my spare time from com-pletely reputable sources so I'm pretty much an expert on humans. Not to brag or anything."

"I see," 2B said.

"Well anyways, it was nice to meet the human, but duty calls. Let me know how everything goes, 'kay?"

2B made a sharp turn to Sora. "So you weren't going to tell me any of this or were you just waiting to die?"

"You told me to wait the first time I told you I was hungry."

"...Then we don't have a choice, let's set up camp."

"Yeees, finally! I was about to collapse from exhaustion!" 9S cheered.

"Be quiet." 2B found a watering hole at the lower level of the forest, then cast her pod into the water. While she waited for a bite, 9S and Sora made conversation with each other.

"Sora, how come you're the only one who can defeat the heartless?"

"'Cause my weapon's specially designed to deal with them."

"Interesting, if you don't mind, can I run some tests on that weapon of yours? If our swords had the same function as yours, we'd definitely be of more help to you."

"Okay, not sure how much mileage you'll get out of it though." He held his keyblade out.

"Pod, go ahead and run an analysis."

Pod 153: Running...running. Analysis complete. The object in query is made from an unidentifiable material from an unidentifiable source. No such object exists in this world and thus its properties are impossible to replicate.

"Huh, that's...weird. It must be from the old world so there's probably insufficient data, but now I have more questions than answers. I didn't think humans would even need weapons on the moon."

"The heartless are everywhere, including space."

"Oh, I get it, I think. The heartless really are from human society, but why are they here now on Earth after thousands of years?"

"The keyblade attracts them and draws the heartless from the darkness."

"You know, that would've been vital information to tell us prior," 2B said. "But I suppose you can't get rid of it, considering it's the only thing that can kill them."

' _How come A2 didn't come to the same conclusions as these two?'_ "It's not just my keyblade either, the heartless are attracted to the weakness in someone's heart, which is how they spread."

"Well, I don't think they're anything to worry about, us androids have strong hearts," 9S said.

"That's good, we're gonna need that more than ever going forward..."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Disregard**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought I should say Sora doesn't have his gummiphone or summon amulets or anything with him, he lost everything except for his keyblade.
> 
> Also, I did some digging and Sora and 9S are actually the same height, with 2B and A2 only being a little taller than the boys bc of their heels.


	8. [H]eartless:Heartless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter was my favorite to write so far, hope you guys enjoy

"-Oh, there's some more YoRHa androids! Heeey!" Popola waved down a group of androids who happened to approach her. "Excuse me, my sister and I would like to ask you something, if you don't mind!"

"God, I hate this so much," Devola said.

"What? Gathering intel is our best chance at locating Sora."

"So you're just gonna chat up any random idiot who happens to pass by? Yeah, that's not gonna bite us in the ass later."

"Lighten up Dev, they haven't blown us off so I'm pretty confident they'll be able to lead us in the right direction!"

The androids in question were unlike the other YoRHa androids, in fact, they were YoRHa deserters, which is why they acknowledged Devola and Popola's existence at all.

"What do you two want?" 8B asked.

"You're not affiliated with YoRHa, are you?" 22B asked.

"Does it look like we're affiliated with YoRHa?!" Devola snapped.

"Don't pay my sister any attention. We were wondering if you knew anything about the human and if Sora happens to be him."

8B exchanged glances with her partners, then returned her attention back to Popola, "What...do you want with the human?"

"We aren't trying to hurt him or anything, we just wanted to meet him for personal reasons, that's all."

"We're looking for the human too," 8B said, then added, "For personal reasons."

"Oh? Then maybe we can exchange information with each other, my sister and I are totally lost."

"What're you talking about? We barely know them," Devola said.

"Then let's change that starting now. I'm Popola and that's my grumpy sister Devola!"

"...I've heard those names tossed around before, then you are the old-style androids. In that case, I'm 8B and these are my comrades 64B and 22B. I believe we'd both benefit from this 'information exchange' as well, how much do you know about the human?"

"Not much, we think his name is Sora and we heard he's been traveling around with a rogue YoRHa android."

"You're right about the human's name being Sora and reports have cited he was once traveling with a YoRHa deserter known as 'A2'."

"But A2 said she didn't know anything about the human."

"Then she lied to you," 22B said. "Probably because she didn't trust you two."

"Really? And after everything we've done for her..."

"We should take what they say with a grain of salt, we  _still_  barely know them," Devola said.

"It sounds to me like  _you_  don't know A2. We all heard she died a few days ago after throwing herself at a dangerous machine," 64B said.

' _So that's how she ended up in that water, no wonder.'_ "No, she's definitely alive, we saw her recently," Popola said.

"Is that so..." 8B said. "Then she's undoubtedly looking for Sora."

"I don't know about that, she was pretty dead set on  _not_  finding him. I bet she's long gone into the Forest Kingdom by now."

"The Forest Kingdom? I see...we last saw the human at the Flooded City. I'd steer clear of A2 going forward, she's known to be ruthless to androids who pursue her and I can only assume she has malicious intentions for Sora."

"Really? I didn't get that vibe from her, she seemed like she genuinely cared about Sora and wouldn't be the type to go around killing other androids."

"It only appeared that way because she's programmed to love and protect humans, besides that, it's all superficial. The only thing genuine about A2 is her hatred for this world... But I digress, we thank you for your aide. We'll be on our way since we have other important matters to attend to. Hopefully, your search for Sora ends in success."

"Thanks, I'll be sure to let you know right away if we have any luck!"

On that note, the androids parted ways with each other. The deserters disappeared within the City Ruins towards an unknown location while Devola and Popola were  _supposed_  to go to the Flooded City, but Devola began walking in the direction of the Forest Kingdom, which Popola found to be more than a little bit suspicious.

"We should be going to the Flooded City, that's where those androids said they last saw the human," She said.

"Popola, you're way too trusting for your own good, did nothing they say seem the least bit suspicious to you? And the leader talked about A2 like she had a vendetta against her or something."

"I mean, A2 is a deserter to YoRHa so I think it would make sense for them not to like her."

"I doubt they're with YoRHa, one of them even asked if we were YoRHa when we're  _obviously_  not. I think you're forgetting when they said they were looking for the human too and I don't think they want competition from us. They were likely either trying to throw us off or set us up for a trap if we did end up going to the Flooded City."

"You do have a point there, I kind of like this over-analyzing side to you, Dev. So you think that A2 might actually be searching for Sora instead of going after the Forest King?"

"No, but I do think she's in serious trouble. They're probably gonna try and kill A2 now that they know exactly where she's at."

"Right...'cause I told them..." Popola sheepishly remarked.

"I guess we should save her or whatever. I'd hate to lose a drinking buddy like that."

"Sure that's the only reason? You know, you got pretty friendly with her last night~"

"Shut up, Popola. Let's just find A2 and get this over with already."

* * *

"Aaaand there!" Sora dumped a handful of herbs and spices he found lying around in a makeshift pot and it simmered along with the fish 2B caught. Once it was cooked enough to his satisfaction, he presented the dish to his android companions. "Ta-dah! Homemade Sea Bass Poêlé! What do you guys think?"

"We don't need to eat," 2B said.

"Oils from fish will congeal an android's bodily fluids and damage our internal systems," 9S explained. "But it does still look great, I'd definitely eat it if it wasn't gonna, you know, kill me."

"Aw, it's no fun eating all alone, oh well, more for me." He scarfed down his meal, then jumped to his feet. "Alright, I'm ready to go!"

"Good, we've wasted enough time," 2B said.

However, just as they were about to depart, a group of Forest Kingdom machines came out of hiding, surrounding them. 2B immediately equipped her sword at the perceived threat, however, the machines chose to surrender rather than to fight.

The leader of the machines kneeled down. "We request the help of the noble human! A monster threatens what little remains of our kingdom and we humbly ask for your assistance in defeating it.

"A monster, huh? Sure, I'd love to help!"

"So now you're making decisions on your own?" 2B asked.

"Well, yeah, that's what heroes are supposed to do!"

9S chuckled. "I think you're letting this 'noble human' stuff go to your head. Although I think this monster machine's worth checking out, it might get in our way later if we don't fight it now."

"Then let's move out," 2B said.

The three of them accompanied the machines and they navigated through the forest, incidentally, they led them in the direction of the castle so no time would be wasted having to backtrack. "This is where we last saw the monster," The leader machine said, stopping at the narrow stone bridge that stood tall between cascading waterfalls.

2B surveyed the area for herself, then turned back to the cowering machines. "I don't see anything."

"It most certainly is here, and it threatens our great king!" One of the machines protested.

"I do sense the darkness, it might be further along the bridge." Sora ventured forward with 2B and 9S by his side.

"You know how these machines have a king. What I don't get is how they understand such complex emotions like 'loyalty' enough to have built an entire monarchy," 9S said.

"What about the machines at Pascal's village?" Sora asked.

"They're an anomaly, the vast majority of machines aren't like that."

"..that's what I don't get."

"Why are you two talking? Are you trying to let the enemy know where we are," 2B said.

"Sorry..." Sora and 9S muttered.

Reaching the end of the bridge without a monster in sight raised a few questions about the reliability of the machines, but when they turned back around, the machines had completely vanished.

"What happened to them?" Sora asked.

"Did they just up and leave us, that's pretty rude," 9S said.

"I'm not so sure, we should go look for them!"

"No, if they're gone, it could very well be a trap. We need to keep moving forward," 2B said.

"-Noble human! Don't leave us, please, don't go! We still need help!"

"Huh?"

A lone machine stood at the center of the bridge. Sora's selflessness got the better of him and he walked back down the bridge to meet the machine. "It's okay little guy, where are your other friends?"

"t̷̫̆̃̑h̵̙̠̦͊ĕ̷͎́y̸̛̱̪̍̏'̶̢̺̠͗̑̒r̴͉͌e̷̱̕ ̶̡̪̈͊͠g̷̗͍͌ò̷̜̇n̸͕̲̿̍e̴̝̕ ̵̼͈͈̓͘a̶̪̙̖̚̚ṋ̶͕͉̓̋d̷̹̊̎̇ ̸̮̆̊̿s̶̡͗o̷͉͍̚͝ ̷̱̞̩̌͝w̶̤͍͉͗̾̄i̸̤̥͋l̶̡͉̼̔l̷̡̽͠ ̴̡̣̌̑̓y̶͙̙̭̏o̸̘̠̎͋̂u̴̘̣͋̃ ̷̯͐͊̾b̸̢͔̥́̓e̵̝̩̙̾̄ ̶̦̮͆̑s̶͇̜͊ͅỏ̸͇͊ö̶̩́͜ͅņ̶̲̠̽"

"Wait- what?"

"This is why I said we need to keep moving forward" 2B came from behind Sora, slicing the machine in half and darkness poured out of it like a spilled bottle of black ink. It briefly disappeared, then resurfaced into a more monstrous form that towered over Sora and the androids.

"What the hell is that thing?" 2B asked.

"...it's a Darkside heartless."

It was massive and terrifying with a hollow heart shape carved into its torso and slimy, black tentacles that wrapped around its head and showed only its bright, yellow eyes. It was unlike anything the androids ever faced before, but Sora conducted himself with such a level of fearlessness, they decided to stow away their doubts and place their faith into Sora.

"Ah, so there's more than just one type of heartless," 9S said.

"This isn't the time," 2B said.

"Sorry, so how do we defeat this thing?"

"Leave it to me, I've dealt with these guys before! You guys just stay back." Sora summoned Crystal Snow, then held his position. Having encountered the Darkside heartless so many times during his previous adventures, he knew its attack patterns by heart and was confident he'd end this fight without breaking a sweat, but as Sora would soon come to find out, this particular Darkside had a few tricks up its sleeves.

The Darkside submerged its arm into a chasm of darkness that bubbled to the surface where it dragged out a shadowy orb resembling a fleshy body organ. Although this process was very slow, a shortcoming for Darkside heartless which made it especially susceptible to Sora's blinding fast speed and why he was able to slay them time and time again.

Meanwhile, 2B and 9S were forced to watch Sora from the sidelines, but it absolutely killed 2B to stand around and spectate as if she were a Type S model. "I..I can't believe we're letting this human fight on our behalf. How disgraceful," She muttered.

"I don't think we give Sora enough credit, he's a really good fighter. I can't even keep up with him," 9S said.

"It doesn't matter, we can't just stand around and do nothing!"

The Darkside shot multiple orbs from its chest and they spiraled towards Sora where it collided with his keyblade. There were one too many orbs than Sora could handle, and he toppled off the bridge. 2B would've jumped after him without a second thought, hell, she  _wanted_  to just to fulfill her purpose to him, but he once again surprised her by running up the stone wall and slashing the Darkside down the middle.

"You guys don't have to worry, fighting heartless is like second nature to me!" Sora said, landing on the ground.

Sheets of scrap metal encased the Darkside's fist into a gauntlet, then it smashed the ground, leveling the bridge. 2B grabbed Sora before he could fall to his death and set him down on the other side where 9S was standing.

"Thanks... guess we know what happened to those other machines," Sora's bright face darkened into anger. "Man, that's so messed up. I have to finish that heartless off whatever it takes!"

"...you're not going anywhere," 2B said.

"What do you mean? I have to fight!"

"No, since our weapons are ineffective against the heartless, we can't protect you and your life is the utmost importance."

"Just because I'm human?!"

"Exactly because you're human. I don't want to risk losing you!"

"Losing me...no, you don't care about  _me_ , you only care because I'm human! That's it, isn't it?! Well, I'll protect you guys even if it doesn't mean anything to you!" Sora ran away from 2B and 9S to finish what he started.

Lacking the power to keep the machines the Darkside consumed inside itself, machine heads and dangling body parts bulged out of the black mass. While that was an ungodly sight on its own, it was the voices, the disconnected machine voices crying out into the world that plagued Sora's mind.

"̸͙̅w̷̨̙̉̀͑ḫ̷͙͉͆y̸̺̒̈́́ ̷̯̙̳͘d̵̀̾̂ͅi̸̲͛̉͝d̷̟̦̼̈̚ ̶̬̙̩͋̈i̸͕̫̔̃̑͜t̵̻̻̽̏̐ ̷̲̰̔h̷̜̹̩̉͗͑ą̷̈v̵̥͗̆́e̸̹̮͑ ̷̳̞̔́t̶̥͑͝ớ̸͔ ̸̪̀͑b̶̖́͘ê̴̙̜ ̷͓͒m̷̫̬͐̄ȅ̸͍̠̗̆̚?̷̥̏͗̚"̸̮̞̆̑

̶͓͌̅̕"̶̤̹́I̵̞̖̭͠ ̸̮̎́j̵̖̊̀ụ̷̰̮̍͘s̷̥̋̒̓t̴̡͙̘̂͐́ ̷̹͙̈̇w̵̡̳͕̐á̷̜͍̾͌͜ņ̸͕̊̃̒͜t̶̘̺͍̽̚̕è̷̳d̴̯̿̚ ̵̝̝̙͛͆͘ṭ̵͈̊͑̈ǒ̵̦ ̶͔̼̙͋̉͊p̵̹̲̏̐̚r̴͓̆̑o̸̧͋t̶̮͠ḙ̸̏̎̎c̴̱̀̓̑t̸̥̥͖͊͝͝ ̶͔͓̲̒͝ţ̸̫̓̑͐h̸͔͖̦́̀e̷͕̘͑ ̵͍̙̈́̑͜k̸̨̥̣̀ï̴̼̳͉n̶͎͍̐̀g̸͍̗̺̿"̴̰̻̠̌̎

"w̵̨̩̪͆̌̚h̷͓̩̙́͝͠ÿ̴̮́ ̶̯͎̇ḧ̸̩͠u̸̜̺͉̚͘m̸̩̻̈́̽̀a̵̱̞͙͐̂̒n̸̖̒͝͝ ̷̯͆̈̉w̸͓̄̍̓h̵̠̆y̷̫̥͈͝͝?̴̞́́"

"No...No...I don't know- I don't know! I'm sorry I have to do this!" He charged at the Darkside, keyblade in hand, only to miss completely and be wide open for attack. With its metal claws, the Darkside snatched Sora and slammed him down on the bridge.

Of course, Sora got back up, but not without coughing up a mouthful of blood, which was more than enough for 2B and 9S to rush to Sora's side. But the moment the androids were in the Darkside's range, it engulfed the bridge in consuming darkness and causing all three of them to sink into the shadows.

' _It's so cold.'_ Was Sora's first thought as the darkness enveloped his body, the next was 2B and 9S, who were arguing over something, but their voices became muffled under the crushing isolation. ' _No, I can't let this be over, I still need to find A2, I still need to go home. I can't lose.'_ Those thoughts clouded his mind, screaming at him and taking over all sense of his self until he finally conceded.

Sora let the darkness convulsing inside his heart to take over and the tempest of emotions weighing him down was now the only thing pushing him forward. He crawled out of the darkness, his keyblade clenched in his mouth, then dug the sharp blade into the Darkside's chest.

""̵̬̭͑͌N̴͎̿͑O̸̤̔͛,̵̬̖͂ ̵̢͇͒̓S̷̻͒͛T̶̯̻̑̊O̴͎͑P̵̙̘̓̅!̷̣̿̐ ̷̣͚͒̉P̶͇̃͝L̵̬̫͑́Ë̵̻́̚Â̴̯̜S̷̗̋̑E̴̡͍̐.̵͓̺̓.̴̜͆̐.̵̖̎͠S̶̖̒̅T̶̬̦͂O̶̦̿̈́P̵̬̅̅͜!̷͖̈́ ̷͈͉͒̐I̵̝͒̉T̵͚̿ ̸͇̀Ḥ̷̥̽̓Û̸̟̻̍R̴̲͈͝T̵͔̑̑S̷̥̪̊!̴̣̅ ̴̭̹̈́Ȋ̶̜T̷͈̟̕ ̵̤͂Ḧ̵̠̬Ư̵͗ͅR̴͙̗̓T̸̢͎̿͆S̵͕͝ ̵̢̳͝S̶̗̏͝O̸̬͓̒̒ ̶̼̼̀M̸̝͇̿Ủ̴͈̣͋C̵͉̕̚͜H̶͈͕̿!̶̞̑"̴͉̂̆

""̵̨̪͗̈́N̴̡̻͐́Ȏ̸̧ ̸̢̬́M̵͖̦̾́O̴̹̼͋R̶͖̈E̷̬̪͑́,̷̨̻̈ ̸̳͋N̶͖̾͝Ó̷͖ ̶̜͌Ḿ̸̟Ö̴͎̖́R̴̟͆̚Ë̵͍́̚!̶͓̋̑͜"̵̤̾

Fueled by his primal desire to destroy everything around him, he relentlessly hacked away at the Darkside's body, ripping it apart piece by piece, until it withered away into nothingness. As a parting gift, it left a pile of disfigured machine corpses and their cries could no longer be heard.

Now free from their prison, 2B and 9S returned to Sora. By then, he was back to his old self, on the outside anyway, they had no idea what storm was raging inside.

"Sora...what happened?" 9S asked. "Did those heartless possess you too?"

"...No, it's just...this darkness has always been apart of me. See? I'm not any better than you guys...I'm worse."

2B crossed her arms. "So you could've done that from the beginning, yet you waited until the last possible second."

"It was more like a last resort, I don't like relying on the darkness for power, but uh, you guys don't care that I used that power?"

"No, you saved us and most importantly you saved yourself, no matter what method you used," 2B said.

"And you're still human at the end of the day," 9S said.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Sora..." 2B began, she was hesitant to continue, but went ahead anyway, feeling it was necessary given the current situation. "Just so you're aware, the time we spent together has always felt real to me, regardless if you're human or not."

9S nodded. "I'm glad we met Sora, if the other humans are as cool as you, then I want to risk everything to save this Earth!"

"You...you guys are the best."

"Still, I think we should study one of those heartless and see what preventive measure we can take since they're clearly gonna be adversaries for us in the future," 9S said.

"We'll talk about it with the Commander after the mission," 2B said.

Much like everything else in the Forest Kingdom, the castle was yet another centuries-old, colossal monument of human society waiting to be conquered by whoever dared enter past the castle gates.

"Yep, this looks like a king's castle alright," 9S said.

"It's huuuuge," Sora said. "I bet there's a lot of machines."

But when they ventured further inside, instead of being ambushed by the castle guard, there were welcomed with stark, eerie silence. While there was no shortage of machine corpses piling up along the winding hallways and greasy oil leaking from their bodies that gave the castle a distinct oily smell. If there were any machines, they didn't want to be seen. And every step they took was like walking closer and closer into that same darkness that trapped them earlier.

"This is so creepy," 9S said. "You think there's someone else here in this castle besides the heartless?"

"Yep, and they're probably stalking us right now, waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill us," 2B said.

"W-w-wait, are you serious?!"

"If you keep talking then, yes, I'm serious."

"Oh, I get it, you're just trying to get me to一"

The blade of 2B's sword brushed inches past 9S's face to impale the machine creeping up behind him. She pushed off the machine head from her sword, then returned it to her manipulator field. After that, 9S kept his mouth shut for the longest time until they reached the library and his silence was broken by the staccato clatter of machines. 2B drew her sword, waiting for the inevitable ambush to occur.

"Watch out, 2B, you never know where the machines are gonna show themselves!" 9S said.

"Roger that, Nine...ze."

"Huh? Wait, what did you just say?!"

"Roger that,  _9S_."

"Wait, nooo, that's not what you said. Back me up here, Sora, she said 'Nines', right? Or something close to it."

"Uh, I think so." He shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Cut the chatter and engage the enemy," 2B said.

"Yeah, yeah."

A fleet of machines riding horseback style on medium quadruped machines merged from the rubble.

"Protect the king at all cost!"

"Leave our kingdom, androids!"

"Finally some normal machines for once," 9S said.

While 9S prepared to hack the approaching machines, 2B combined pod fire to chip away at their health from a distance, then when they got close enough, used her Type-4O blade for a clean, heavy slice through the metal husks.

' _That sword is the one A2 uses, hopefully, we find her around the forest somewhere. She'd love to fight all these machines, even though I'm not sure if I want to keep fighting them, I have to protect my friends.'_ Aiming his keyblade at the machines attacking 2B and 9S, he used stop, freezing their movements and sealing their fate at the swords of the androids.

With the machines defeated, they went past the library and entered into an open room with a staircase leading to the upper level of the castle. A linked-sphere type machine slithered around the walls, preventing them from going any further, but thanks to a quick application of Sora's 'stop' spell, they continued forward without a hitch.

"Uh, hey, what were you guys arguing about back at the bridge?" Sora asked.

"How to save you, typical android stuff," 9S said. "At first 2B wanted to detonate our black boxes, but the blast would have taken you out with it and there's not another body waiting for you back at the bunker. Self-destructing or using pod programs wasn't an option either because it would've taken the bridge out."

"At the time, anything seemed better than doing nothing," 2B said.

"Oh...wait, there's a black box here in this world?"

"Black boxes are unique to YoRHa androids as they function as a combination of the power cell and memory module," 9S said.

"I have no clue what you just said."

"It's like what you'd call a 'brain' and 'heart' in a human."

' _I guess their black boxes have nothing to do with the black box I know, but it's pretty coincidental they have the same name.'_

The rest of the way went by relatively fast considering there were scarcely any machines to oppose them and it didn't take long for them to climb their way to the king's throne room in the most deteriorated part of the castle.

Sora ran up the set of steps, eager to find out exactly who this king was, only to be somewhat disappointed that the only machine in the room was nothing more than an infant and not a giant, hulking machine worthy to be called king. "Is this him? Their king..."

2B and 9S exchanged glances with each other.

"It must be, look," 9S motioned to the masses of machine corpses scattered throughout the throne room and clustered around the king's cradle. "This is who they wanted to protect all along.

"Oh, so they just wanted to protect their king. I know I'd do the same for..." Sensing immediate danger snake up his spine like a chill, Sora quickly grabbed Immanuel and rolled out of the way, narrowly missing a powerful sword strike from above them. When he saw who the attacker was, his eyes went wide from shock.

"A...A2! I looked for you, I looked everywhere for you!" Sora cried.

"Sora...so you aren't dead after all," A2 raised her sword to Sora. There was darkness emitting from her body and her once pale eyes were now a wilted yellow color. "But you will be."

' _The darkness got to her, that's why she's acting like this, but I'll bring her back.'_ He set Immanuel down, then got back up on his feet. "A2, stop it, this isn't you!"

"'This isn't me'? ...Who the HELL do you think you are?! You leave me all alone, then show up out of nowhere with this sorry ass look on your face! I'll make sure you never look at me like that again!" She reeled her Type-4O blade back, ready to swing at Sora, but clashed blades with 2B's sword instead.

"I won't let you hurt Sora- 9S, ready!"

"Already on it!" 9S fired a fully charged laser from his pod at A2 that should've ended their fight, however, the darkness filled in the hole that was carved into her and she kept going as if nothing happened.

"How is that even...whatever, time for plan b! Pod, A150: Volt!" The electrical shock was still enough the paralyze the android part of A2's body, but the darkness inside her ensured she wouldn't remain in that state for long. But for what few precious seconds she couldn't move, 9S summoned his own sword, Cruel Oath, and dug the blade through A2's back. At the same time, 2B pushed Virtuous Treaty through her chest, forcing her to stay in one place.

"You think this shit is enough to stop me? You're the one who's modeled after ME!" The blades passed through A2's body, she swung her leg into 9S's stomach, then summoned a spear in an attempt to stab 2B's neck, but she missed and struck her in the shoulder instead.

"2...2B!" 9S screamed.

"I'm fine...this isn't enough to kill me!" 2B broke off from A2, then used the spear pod program, directly followed by the bomb program to overwhelm her opponent, but not even that seemed to stop her as she merely pushed forward.

"You're not worth my time," A2 said, she leaped high up in the air to bypass 2B, then hammered her sword down on Sora who blocked the attack with his keyblade. "You bring nothing, but misery to this planet. I'll do this world a favor by killing you!"

"No, stop this A2! Please!" Sora pleaded. "I know you're still in there!"

"There's nothing left inside of me!"

"That's not true and I'll prove it! 2B, I'll take it from here!" He changed his keyblade to Favorite Deputy, then gathered some distance between him and A2. "A2...I never stopped thinking about you and I never stopped wanting to find you!"

"Shut up!" She closed the gap between them and swung again, but Sora managed to evade her sword and strike A2 from the side.

"Listen to me A2, I've always kept you in my heart and that's what pushed me forward!" He kept swinging at A2 to varying degrees of success until he was able to form change his keyblade to Hyper Hammer and could finally break through her defense.

"Don't lie to me! That's why you have those replacements, don't you?!"

"They're my friends just like you are to me!" He landed a direct hit on A2 with the head of his hammer, sending her crashing into the back wall, but the darkness rebuilt whatever pieces had fallen off and she stood back up.

Sora approached A2 and she prepared to fight him off, but he caught her off guard by embracing her. "...even though sometimes you're scary and mean and curse a lot, there's a light inside you that never goes out, " He said.

The darkness that imprisoned her heart dissolved away and it was washed out by a feeling she long forgotten as the years passed by. For a moment, just for a moment, she let herself feel the warmth of his body and let herself fall back into that naïve mindset where the world was so bright and endless, before pushing him and  _it_  away because she knew she didn't deserve it.

"...why is it always you that pisses me off the most?"

"I'm sorry, A2. Hey, guess I was right after all about me mopping the floor with you in a fight!"

"I'm going to kill you."

"Just kidding- just kidding!"

She smirked. "Me too." But her smirk quickly faded away. "And, um, you don't have to follow me around anymore."

"What're you talking about?"

"You're not a weakling like you used to be, you won't die on your own so you don't need me. Besides, I treat you like shit and I threaten to kill you all the time...and I push you away, you have to be a dumbass to ever want to be with me."

"A2, don't say those things! Even if you can't protect me like you used to, I'll still follow you around because I want to be the one to protect you! You don't have to be alone anymore!"

She gave Sora this look he couldn't describe, it might have been embarrassment, or maybe it was closer to the shame and guilt that had eaten away at her rotten core. But it was a rare moment of vulnerability he'd probably never get to see from her again. "...whatever dumbass," She finally said.

"You don't get to make those decisions, Sora," 2B said. "A2 is a betrayer to YoRHa, she has no right being anywhere near you!"

"Look, hate to break it to you guys, but Sora chose me over you two, don't get pissy because he likes me more," A2 said.

"He just doesn't want you to die for some reason, that doesn't mean he likes you more!" 9S argued.

"Nines is right, I wasn't really trying to play favorites or anything," Sora said.

"He's only saying that so he won't hurt your guy's feelings."

"Tch, 2B, you're thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yep, let's kill her."

"Time to get out of here." Grabbing Sora by the hood, she jumped out of the castle, evading a barrage of attacks along the way. She carried Sora to the top of the castle, while the 2B and 9S ran into an empty courtyard.

"We'll stay in the forest for a while so we can lose them," A2 said.

"Sounds good. So...what's the plan now?"

"You tell me."

"Hm? Don't you wanna fight more machines?"

"No, from now on, I want to focus on getting you home."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Extinction**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sora must be on some wack shit bc I would NOT of left 2B for A2 smh


	9. A Scatt[E]red Dream

"This forest is a punishing hell for machine lifeforms."

"...I have decided I shall make this our kingdom and declare our independence!"

"What's a kingdom?"

"I suppose a family might be...good."

"So benevolent and kind...and now he's dead."

"And now we must raise this child so he might one day be our new king."

"After all these years...he still hasn't grown."

"Maybe it's possible to bring our king back, these creatures bring everything back to life."

"Back to life?"

"Will that even be possible?"

"So our king will live on as he once did?"

"He has to. He is all that's left of our kingdom."

"He is all that's left."

【Ｔｈｅ Ｋｉｎｄ Ｋｉｎｇ】

* * *

"What, really? It's not like you to think of anyone but yourself."

"Shut up or I'll push you off this castle! I'm only helping you because I've run out of things to do myself."

"Well, in that case, I don't want to go back home just yet. I need to rid this world of the heartless, so help me do that!"

"You rather risk your life and help this shitty world, than go back home?"

"Sure, I'm the only one who can stop the heartless, so I don't mind."

"Guess I'm not surprised一"

The castle's archaic foundation began shaking and crumbling away, huge pieces of the stone they were standing on fell off until it eventually took Sora and A2 along with it. Grabbing Sora mid-air amidst the falling debris, A2 landed harshly on the courtyard grounds, creating a small crater under her feet in the process.

"What the hell was that..." A2 grumbled, dropping Sora on the ground.

"That's what I'd like to know."

They received their answer when a goliath class machine emerged out of the castle rubble. Based on the machine's rusted, decayed appearance and the wealth of mossy green vegetation covering its metal exterior, it likely hadn't moved as much as an inch in centuries. Yet there it was, swinging its massive arms around like it was manufactured yesterday.

_Whether in wind or rain_

_Thunder or snow_

_Or even amidst the rising flames of war_

"Let's have some fun!" A2's hand tightly grasped the handle of her sword, but another android already made the preemptive strike before she could and sliced both of its arms off.

"Damn it, I forgot you two were still here!" A2 pointed her blade at 2B who turned around to meet her. "I think it's time we settle this!"

In an instant, A2 swung the heavy blade in front of her body and blocked a sword strike that was meant to impale her head. Despite the cumbersome weight of A2's blade, it was practically attached to her arm at this point and she managed to push 2B off without exerting much effort.

"Now it's my turn!" She was about to make her next move on 2B, but Sora stepped in front of her in hopes to prevent any unnecessary bloodshed.

"Stop it, all of you guys are my friends and I don't want my friends fighting anymore!"

"Stay out of this!" A2 and 2B yelled.

"一Hold on, watch out you guys!" 9S shouted.

They jumped out of the way as the goliath machine's arm slammed on the ground. Even though 2B had moments prior severed its arms, the darkness leaking out of its body connected the dismembered limbs back together and it continued fighting.

"It just won't stay down," A2 said.

"It's because of the heartless...Sora, 9S and I will distract the machine, you finish the rest," 2B said.

"On it, A2, back me up!"

"Whatever." ' _God, I hate taking orders from everyone else.'_

As the goliath machine revved its motor engine for another round, 2B and 9S charged forward to keep it distracted. While the machine was busy engaging with them, A2 went in next and split the machine's body open lengthwise, allowing Sora to come in from behind and lodge his keyblade in the darkness festering inside, returning the heartless back whence it came.

However, the fighting wasn't over just yet, A2 twirled her blade around in her hand, then aimed the tip of the blade at 2B. "Now, where were we?"

"Getting you guys to not kill each other," Sora cut in.

"Not happening, I'm tired of these two assholes chasing me down."

"You're an enemy of YoRHa, therefore you must be eliminated like any other threat," 2B said.

"Look, you're all androids and you're all fighting to take down the machines and protect me so you're basically on the same side," Sora argued.

"Just because we have a common goal doesn't mean we're fighting for the same thing. They may be loyal to YoRHa, but I'm only loyal to myself," A2 said.

"So what? While I'm here, I'm not letting any of you guys kill each other! 2B and Nines, why don't you two just team up with us, we're gonna need your help!"

"WHAT?! We don't need their help, we can get rid of the heartless on our own!"

"No, the more people we have on our side, the better chance we have at defeating the heartless. 2B, Nines, what do you say?"

"...those things are a pain and the Commander did say we need to get rid of them before they start infecting more androids," 9S said. "I don't like the idea of teaming up with A2 myself since she is a deserter, but right now, destroying those heartless are a top priority and with her already been infected, she might be a valuable asset to us for research purposes."

"Yep, A2's definitely a valuable asset," Sora said.

"Don't talk about me like that..." She mumbled.

"I understand, then we're willing to form a temporary alliance for the purpose of eliminating the heartless as well as seeing to Sora's protection," 2B said, then faced A2 directly. "And if they believe you'll be an asset, then killing you right now would be detrimental to the mission."

"Yeah, yeah, uh-huh, you're only saying that so you can kill me when I have my guard down."

"When this mission is over that's exactly what I intend on doing."

"Why wait until this mission is over? Just kill me now, I dare you, come on do it!"

"Will you guys stop fighting?!" Sora yelled. "We need to figure out what to do from here on out first!"

"Fine, whatever. What's your big idea of getting rid of those monsters?" A2 asked.

"The heartless aren't native to this ...region, so there's a source where they originated from. All we need to do is find it and I can seal the darkness to prevent any more from showing up. After that I'll destroy the rest of the heartless that remains in this world."

"So the heartless are able to travel from one location to the other in order to seek the keyblade?" 9S asked. "Even from somewhere thousands of miles away?"

"Yeah, pretty much.

"Ah, I get it. That is a  _pretty_  big problem."

"You're telling me. The only lead I have to go off is from Adam and Eve since the heartless had a particular affinity for them and they seemed to know a lot more than they let on. Buuut, it's not like we can ask them anything since we, y'know..."

"Then it might stand to reason wherever the heartless first appeared might also be the place where Adam and Eve were created or 'born' I guess you could say."

Sora's eyes lit up. "...I think you might be onto something! Where's this place they were born?"

"The apartment complex in the desert!"

"Great, so that's where we'll all head next!"

A2's face twisted in confusion, totally lost by whatever Sora and 9S were talking about from the word 'heartless'. "...did you get any of that?" She muttered to 2B who shook her head in reply.

"What the hell are you two idiots talking about?" A2 asked.

"Heh, you never change, A2. Basically, we go to the desert and kick some heartless butt!" Sora said.

"Ah, sounds good, just don't pass out on me again."

"Not gonna happen, trust me!"

The four of them set off from the castle courtyard to their next destination. However, by the time the grand castle had faded into the background and they were deep into the forest, the tension in the air was abnormally high. The age-old we're-not-out-of-the-woods-yet feeling made the group hesitate and draw their weapons in anticipation for what lurked beyond the woodland trees.

_They were always together_

_They never understood why_

*rustle

*rustle

"Sounds like that came from the northwest position," 9S said. "Pod, R010: Laser!"

The laser cleared away a few bushes and needle-thin trees, revealing a giant moose hightailing it out of there.

"Great job," A2 remarked sarcastically.

"Heh heh...guess it was nothing to worry about," 9S said, a little embarrassed from his impulsiveness.

Continuing forward, they arrived at a forest clearing that once served as training grounds for the Forest Kingdom's army, but it was long abandoned with broken weapons and discarded armor scattered across the stone ground.

"You guys think the Forest Kingdom will ever be able to rebuild itself? Their king's still alive technically, even if he is in an infantile state," 9S mused.

"Hope so, maybe they'll even build a stronger kingdom next time around!" Sora said.

"Heh, then they'll make better target practice once they're stronger," A2 said.

"You sure do love destroying machines, huh, to the point where it's unnecessary and a waste of energy," 9S said.

"I can think of  _someone_  else who's also unnecessary and a waste of energy."

"Oh right back at ya, but even so, despite being a deserter you are still contributing to the YoRHa cause. I think it's that type 2 personality you're programmed with, can't help, but follow orders."

"...are you done?"

"One more, the Commander wouldn't tell us, but how come you betrayed YoRHa?"

She clenched her fist, bygone memories vividly flashing through her server. "They're the ones who betrayed us."

_And yet they spent their lives nestled together_

_Forever..._

_F̷̬̲̱͍̲̝̣́̂̈́̈́̇̍͘ơ̴̝̠̣̐̊̐̂̕r̷̨̠̹͎͇̬̮̾̀̔̒͋e̴̮̗̠͇̝̙̓̌̑̄͂̉̚v̸͉̱̋̿̏̄́̆͘ẻ̴̡͛̍̀r̵̀̑́́̒͜ ̵͈̲͂̎̀â̵̘͖͖ͅn̸̡̠̪̑d̷̨̧̻͓̟̄͋̄͠ ̶͈̾̀̾̈́̃̉͝Ê̷̛̘̺͕̟̖̫̓͝v̷̡͇̯̦̰̗̏̂͛e̸̪̩͇̪͒̓͌̊͆r̶͉̠̪̣̜͊̈̈́_

*rustle-rustle-rustle

A2 hastily drew her sword, already in a bad mood. "If that's another goddamn moose..." She disappeared into the forest only to be thrown back out into the open.

"I don't think that was a moose," Sora said.

"You don't say," A2 said. "There was definitely something in there that grabbed me."

"We're not going to wait to see what it is. Pod, A130: Bomb!" 2B said.

The volley of explosives from the pod demolished a huge chunk of the forest so they could clearly see whatever  _it_  grabbed A2, but once again, there was nothing more than a herd of moose running away from the danger.

"This is pissing me off," A2 said. "Goddamn coward can't even show itself! You wanna fight, then bring it to us, I'll gladly chop your head off!"

As if responding directly to A2's threat, the ground violently trembled with the intensity of an earthquake.

"Leave it to A2 to put us ALL in danger!" 9S yelled.

"Shut up!"

The earth itself split open into a web of fissures scarring the land, the trees in the immediate area that couldn't withstand the impact began to fall over as well. By the time the earthquake stopped, the landscape drastically changed and they were now faced with an army of undead machines reanimated by none other than the heartless.

To make matters worse, the one who led the army was the goliath machine they previously defeated rearing its disfigured head once more. Although it too had drastically changed in appearance, the machine part of it was barely held together by the darkness now clearly exposed.

"Not this guy again, let's defeat this heartless for good!" Sora wielded his keyblade and the others did the same with their respective weapons.

"Hey kid, I have an idea, but me and you will have to go for the big one," A2 said.

' _I have a bad feeling about this.'_ "What do you have in mind?" He asked.

"Just follow my lead!" She threw herself at the machines, mowing down corpse after corpse while Sora tailed behind A2, destroying the heartless that were left from her path of destruction. Drawing closer to the goliath machine, she turned her head back to Sora, "Now, ahead of me!"

"Got it!"

Using one hand, A2 plucked Sora right off the ground and threw him high up in the air, then scaled the heartless-machine hybrid all the way to where its shoulder was supposed to be. She took aim at its head, but before the sharp blade could make contact with the metal husk, it dislocated its head and her sword went through a mass of darkness instead.

"...that wasn't supposed to happen."

Sora, still in the air, attempted to throw his keyblade at the goliath machine's head, but he underestimated the machine's speed and its giant, metal hand seized him.

"Damn it, hang on, kid!" A2 readied her sword, a split second away from slicing its arm off, but someone else already beat her to the punch and the hand holding Sora fell down. Another android grabbed Sora in her arms, then safely set him on the ground.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked.

"Uh...yeah, thanks, who are you anyway?"

The android gave him a small smile. "Name's Popola, it's nice to meet you!"

"Oh, I'm- wait a sec!" Sora swiped at a machine coming for Popola's head and his keyblade transformed into Nano Gear so he could easily lay waste to the enemies. "Alright, I'll try shotlock with this one!"

With Nano Gear's unique power of microbots, its shotlock, Zone Connector, could cover a wide area for attack and the heartless left behind from the army of machines 2B and 9S defeated were destroyed all at once. Sora set his sights on the goliath machine next, the microbots assembled his keyblade into a hammer and he slammed the head on its torso.

He quickly followed up with fira, the blazing flames consumed the goliath machine's body and the heartless that gave it life.

' _Hopefully, that's the last of it.'_  Sora's keyblade dispersed into hard light fragments. "Everyone okay?"

"We're okay," 9S said.

"Same here," Popola said. "Good thing we came when we did."

"Why are you two even here?" A2 asked.

"Thanks for the warm welcome, A2. We were worried about you so we went looking for you."

"一A2 didn't tell me she had other friends," Sora said. "What's up, my name's Sora, it's nice to meet you guys!"

"...what did you say?" Popola asked in a soft tone. "What was your name again?"

"Sora?"

"So you're him, you're really the human?"

"Yep, you're looking right at him!"

Popola fell down on her knees and hugged Sora as tightly as she could just to make sure he was real, just to make sure these  _feelings_  were real and not a dream she would ever have to wake up from. And then the tears came pouring down her face and her apologies to him poured out of her mouth, "I'm sorry...it's all our fault," She sobbed. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry...I'm sorry..."

"H-Hey, there's nothing to be sorry about, but you're squeezing me really hard!"

"I'm so, so,  _so_  sorry," She let go of him. "I...I just...I don't why, but seeing you, and hearing your voice and...feeling your warmth, it means the world to me to know you're alive."

"...Pull yourself together Popola, look at him, he's just a kid..." Devola's voice module was breaking and it took everything to fight back the tears welling up in her eyes. "...it's humiliating to cry like that in front of everyone."

"I don't care, Dev...don't you get it? He's everything, he's  _everything_  we've been searching for all our lives. He's the answer to this constant guilt and remorse eating away at our core."

"...yeah...yeah I know. That's why it sucks." At that moment, Devola hated herself. She hated the stream of tears rolling down her face, making her vision all cloudy and blurry. She hated the pitiful, doe-eyed look of concern Sora gave her and worse yet, the mixed confusion the other androids shared with each other at their meltdown, especially from A2. But what she hated the most was that she didn't know why she felt like this.

Devola fell apart by the seams just like her sister, but she couldn't for the life of her remember why him of all people mattered so damn much to her and why it felt like the weight of the world itself lifted from her shoulders when she looked at him. It was mortifying, way up there in one of the worst experiences of her life, and yet, she couldn't remember a time where she'd ever been this happy, this relieved in all her years of meaningless existence.

_'What is this? Is it okay for me not to hate myself just for this moment? Is it okay for me to even feel like this?'_  Devola wondered. _'Or is this another punishment? I can't figure out which is which anymore.'_

A2 shook her head in contempt. _'Showing this much vulnerability in front of a human, who the hell are these guys?'_

"...hey, 2B, have you ever seen them before?" 9S asked.

"Not that I can recall. You two, identify yourself and state your purpose."

"...I'm Devola, and that's my sister Popola, we're not with YoRHa in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't."

Popola collected herself enough to speak on her behalf. "We...we just wanted to meet the human since we heard he was around. I'm sorry if we've bothered you."

"No, not at all. Thanks for helping him," 9S said.

"...I'm sorry that I have to ask you this, but can we accompany you? At least until we reach the Resistance camp, it's not that we want you to take pity on us, but getting here was kind of a pain and we're not exactly built for combat."

"It doesn't matter to me as long as it's fine with Sora," 2B said.

"Of course, the more the merrier!"

' _So now 2B's the de facto leader of this group? They didn't even ask if I was okay with it.'_ "Uh...it's nice to see you two aren't dead," A2 said.

"Yeah, same for you I guess," Devola said rather coldly.

"You always seem to hold up pretty well," Popola said. "But I'm glad you're okay."

"...right."

"Maybe it's a good idea to take a breather before we head out to the desert, we've all pretty much been fighting nonstop," 9S said.

"That's actually not a bad idea, Sora does need to take a bath," A2 said.

"What?!"

"Agreed," Everyone said.

" _WHAT?!_ "

They set up camp near a calm river and, after the androids swore not to watch him when he was changing, Sora submerged himself in the cool water. 2B kept to herself by sharpening her weapons in preparation for the next mission and A2 distanced herself from them entirely by 'searching for more machines' while 9S made conversation with the twins.

"...So you're all heading to the desert, huh, we were just there not too long ago after skipping town," Popola said. "But we definitely didn't see any of what you call the 'heartless'."

"Then that must of been a while ago," 9S said. "If you don't mind me asking, how come you two had to skip town?"

"The androids there were getting...violent so we had no choice, but to leave. Most androids who aren't YoRHa hate us, couldn't tell you why though."

' _Hated for no reason, wonder if it has anything to do with how they reacted to Sora. I'll have to look into it later.'_

"But nevermind about that." Popola changed the subject. "Didn't think I'd ever see a human... how different is he from us androids?"

"He's actually a lot more different from us function-wise than I initially thought. There are so many weird things his body does, and I learn something new every day, it's fascinating just to study him in his natural environment."

"Wow, I bet. Personally, I only know a few things about humans..." She leaned in closer to 9S. "So is it true that humans eat their offspring if they're not strong enough?"

"No way, humans would never do that, you're probably thinking of an animal or something."

"I knew it," Devola said. "You're so gullible Popola, you know that?"

"Am not, the guy who told us seemed really trustworthy at the time!"

"Was that before or after he started screaming at us to get out of his face?"

"Very funny, Dev. All I know is that someone told us humans ate something super nasty and we both thought it was gross."

"Oh wait, I know what you're talking about now," Devola said. "I'm almost positive it was that humans ate their own shit."

"Their own...wait, that can't be true!" 9S said.

"9S is right, only animals do that," Popola said.

"Humans  _are_  animals, buuut if you don't believe me, you can always ask him. He is right there."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Popola approached Sora who was floating along in the water. "Hey, Sora..."

"Yeah?"

"You...You don't really eat your own sh*t, do you?"

Sora nearly drowned in the water, or more accurately he  _wanted_  to drown in the water. "Wh-Where the heck did you get THAT from?! Of course, humans don't do that!"

"But Dev said..." Popola whipped her head back to Devola who was chuckling at her expense. "Devola! Ugh, she's such a horrible sister!"

"Don't listen to what those guys have to say about humans! I'm your best resource on all human things, you can ask me anything," Sora said.

"I'll let you know whenever I think of something...so you've been traveling around with A2 for a while? Hopefully, she didn't get you into too much trouble."

"Haha, A2's always protected me in her own A2 way. She's not as bad as everyone makes her out to be, once you get past, you know..."

"Her aloof, anti-social and frankly self-destructive behavior, yeah, I've had more than my fair share of it."

"一Fair share of what?" A2 asked, walking up to her.

"Uh...nothing. How's machine hunting going for you?"

She dropped what remained of her spear at Popola's feet. "I'm down to my Type-4O blade which is only good for heavy attacks, but I'm interested in the sword Devola used to cut that machine arm off. It's one of those outdated Type-3 swords."

"Yep, you have a good eye for weaponry."

"I used to own a Type-3 blade until those deserters tried to kill me."

"The deserters...oh right I almost forgot, Dev and I need to tell you something very important!" She dragged A2 back to Devola and 9S. "Dev, you remember what we need to tell A2, right?"

"Yeah, A2, my sister sold you out to a bunch of enemy androids."

"Wait- you did what?!"

"It wasn't like that, they tricked me!"

"No, she willingly gave out your name and location."

"Dev, stop it, you're embarrassing me!"

"What, it's true! You should've listened to me."

"Alright, so some androids are looking for A2, soooo is the rest of YoRHa. Nothing we have to worry about," 9S said.

"I'll make sure to remember you said that whenever your ass is getting handed to you by the machines!" A2 barked.

"Calm down you two, this is serious," Devola said. "I don't think those androids were with YoRHa even if they did have the uniform."

"...do you know their names or basic descriptions?"

"The leader's name was 8B and her friends were 64B and 22B, why, ring any bells?"

"Shit, we need to get the hell out of here right now! Those are YoRHa deserters, they'll try to kill us all and take Sora away for themselves!"

"I've heard those names before as well," 2B said. "They've become a formidable adversary to YoRHa. If they know your location then we can't be safe here."

"Then that decides our next course of action." A2 looked over to Sora. "Come on kid, we're out of here, we have the deserters on our ass again."

"The deserters?!" His mind in a rush, Sora shot up from the water...without thinking things through.

"..."

"PUT ON SOME GODDAMN CLOTHES FIRST, IDIOT!"

After that minor inconvenience, they were finally able to leave the forest zone behind and their last obstacle before they could reach the City Ruins was the suspension rope bridge. They raced down the shaky bridge thinking they were finally out of harm's way, however, the bridge fell apart the moment 2B and 9S made it to the other side and everyone else plummeted into the deep canyon below.

Acting fast, Sora cast balloon to cushion their fall and they landed on the ground relatively intact. "You guys alright?" He asked.

"You'll have to ask us that later. Whatever happened, it was on purp- ow, hey, who the hell do you..." Her voice became muffled and so did Devola and Popola's.

It was too dark to see anything clearly, but Sora could just barely make out a large group of YoRHa androids restraining his friends. He summoned his keyblade, ready to save them, but two androids grabbed hold of him from behind and held him back.

"Let me go, let me go right now!" He screamed.

"Not a chance. Do you miss us, human?"

"Told you this wouldn't be the last time you see us."

' _Those voices, I recognize them, it can't be...'_

A bright light flashed from an unknown source, exposing the identity of their captors; 8B and the deserter androids.

"With patience yields reward." 8B approached Sora, caressing his cheek before moving her hand down to hold his chin. "You'll be the start to the end of YoRHa."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Neglect**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify, the goliath class machine they were fighting was the forest king's old body


	10. [A] Far-Off Memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to uni pretty soon so instead of weekly updates, my update schedule is going to be significantly different. I'll try to update every two weeks, but at worst, it might be a month between chapters.

"What do you want with me?!"

"To be still and stay silent, that's all I can ask from you. We'll do the rest."

"I'm not doing anything! Let me and my friends go or I'll一"

"Or you'll  _what_? You're not in a position to make demands of me, neither are your friends. Otherwise, someone's going to meet their end."

"If you're confident that you can kill me, then go ahead and do it," A2 said. "I'm not scared of you."

"You're as irrational as ever, Number 2, don't you see you're outnumbered  _and_  outclassed? We listened to your advice and got plenty of pods to use to our disposal, so whether you want to die now or later is up to you, it makes no difference to me."

"I'm not the one who's outclassed, that's why you're restraining me! Let me go and we'll find out exactly who's going to be the one to die  _now_  and who's going to die later!"

"Shut up A2!" Devola snapped. "Just because you can fight like a maniac doesn't mean we can!"

"Those are empty threats anyway," 8B said, she turned her attention away from them. "5D, what's the status of the Bunker's server?"

"We've breached the security system and are in the process of patching you through to command, you'll be able to start broadcasting any second now."

Pod 131: Pending...Pending...Success

"-This is the Commander...and you're unit 8B, one of the rogue YoRHa androids. You're mistaken to have contacted me."

"It was a calculated measure and one that I believe is worth the risk." She directed her pod to Sora.

"I see...you have the human. What do you plan to do with him?"

"That depends on your compliance with my demands."

"That's the game you're wanting to play? So be it, what are these demands you're asking of me?"

"For starters, this senseless fighting needs to end, no more using android lives just to build the next line of androids!"

"And do you think any of this will stop the machines from destroying androids?"

"No, but there's more to this existence than just dying over and over again!"

"Is that what you truly believe?"

"Of course, we don't have to be trapped in this perpetual cycle of life and death!"

"Hm...I'll let you in on a little secret, YoRHa androids are weapons meant to facilitate the return of humanity to Earth, nothing more."

"For  _what_  humans?! There is no humanity, he's the last one, he's the ONLY one. That's the truth, isn't it?! Admit it, Commander, YoRHa androids don't have a purpose anymore!"

"You do have a purpose and you're about to fulfill it."

"What the hell are you一" A long, slender sword impaled 8B's chest.

2B pulled Virtuous Treaty out of 8B, and she fell down into a pool of her own blood.

"Sora, are you okay?" 2B asked.

"I...I don't know." Nothing seemed real to Sora anymore, nothing even seemed to matter if someone was just going to die seconds later and the worst part was, he was getting used to it.

The shock of 8B's death amongst the deserter androids was enough for A2 to break away from her captors and unleash hell through the blade of her sword.

By then, everything dissented into chaos, but it was routine at this point for Sora to watch someone be alive one moment, then die the next. The metallic screech that rattled whenever blades clashed with each other, the monotonous sound of ammunition firing out of pods, and the screaming, the god awful screaming, it was white noise to Sora's ears, like TV static.

It didn't take much longer for 2B to fight her way through to get to Sora, grab him, then bolt down to the elevator. The other androids followed suit and soon the six of them were crammed together into the elevator cart.

"Okay, think about it like this, at least we won't have to worry about those guys anymore now that the leader's dead," Popola said.

"Until they get a new leader," A2 said, she looked over to 2B. "What took you so long anyway, I thought for sure you would've jumped after Sora."

Pod 042: Such ill-conceived actions would have put unit 2B in a compromising position against the enemy YoRHa androids. An alternative route was proposed and accepted in order to ensure more suitable levels of success in securing the human.

"...Whatever. Would've been nice if you spoke up about the androids who ambushed us since you seem to know so damn much."

Pod 042: All information regarding enemy YoRHa androids were disclosed to units 2B and 9S after black box signals were detected and confirmed.

"Sounds to me like you're just bad at your job."

"You don't even have a pod so I wouldn't be talking," 9S said.

"And I don't want one."

After they departed from the elevator cart, the rest of the way to the Resistance camp went by smoothly without any random encounters to impede their progress. Although, Sora hadn't spoken a word since their last battle, which was unusual.

Even more strange, once they reached the Resistance camp, Sora uncharacteristically brushed off all the androids thrilled to meet him and shut himself inside 2B and 9S's room.

"That's new," Popola said. "Does he usually act like this?"

"No, he's always really outgoing and friendly, maybe he's just tired. A2, what do you think, you've known him the longest," 9S said.

"Don't care. He's less annoying this way."

"Predictable response, don't know why I even bothered asking you."

"I don't know why either. Just leave the kid alone, he's probably acting up because of some human thing we can't comprehend."

"All the more reason we should investigate!"

"9S, you're letting this fascination with humans get out of hand," 2B said. "I didn't think I would ever say this, but I agree with A2, we androids can't do much for him."

Pod 042: Incoming call from the Commander

"From the Commander, huh? It must be important," 9S said.

"Right."

2B and 9S stepped outside of the Resistance camp to take the call, leaving A2 with the twins.

"Uh, and I guess we'll get to work on starting up our weapon shop," Popola said.

"Weapon shop?" A2 asked.

"Yep, we just need to make digital copies of our weapons on hand, it won't take long. And when we're done, you'll get first pick on our selection, free of charge of course."

She watched as the twins approached Anemone and was now on her own to keep herself busy while she waited on Sora. ' _Maybe I could go fight some machines, I hate standing around in the Resistance camp.'_ When she walked out, she saw 2B and 9S were preparing to head out as well.

"Where the hell are you going?"

"There's a super dangerous machine in the Flooded City that we need to deal with. Just don't tell Sora or he might go chasing after us, we'll meet up with you guys later," 9S said.

' _Doubt he'd go chasing after you guys.'_

"And don't try to escape, we'll be able to track you down immediately and you'll be eliminated for insubordination," 2B said.

' _Figures they would've put some sort of tracking device on me or whatever method they're using. What assholes.'_  "Yeah, I got it."

As they set out on their mission, A2 went ahead with her own mission to destroy as many machines in the immediate area as she could to get her mind off pretty much everything. But no matter how many robot heads she chopped off, her memory processing component would only fixate on their encounter with the YoRHa deserters and refuse to process any other events.

It frustrated A2 enough to throw her sword on the ground and take her anger out on an unsuspecting tree, knocking it down. "I haven't seen the Commander in so long and she's still as big of a bitch as she was back then all those years ago..."

_TIME : 15:00_

_OPERATION : The 14th Machine War / / Pearl Harbor Descent Mission_

_ALTITUDE_ _: 50,000 ft._

_NUMBER OF DEPLOYED UNITS : 12_

_STATUS REPORT : The newest model of androids launched as part of the YoRHa project has recently departed from the bunker on designated flight units in order to intercept a machine interference. YoRHa unit A1 is the current leader of this operation and the squadron will make contact with Earth at approximately 15:40._

" _Ah, so, that's the ocean! It's so beautiful!" Number 2 said._

" _Heh, you're one to state the obvious," Number 16 said._

" _I can't help it, I've always wanted to see Earth! This isn't anything like the simulations!"_

" _Well, at least one of us is optimistic about this mission."_

" _一_ _You guys, we're in the middle of the descent mission! Knock it off with the unnecessary commentary," Number 1 said._

" _Okaaaaay."_

_TIME:  15:15_

_[Number 1 has been hit]_

" _What?!" Number 16 exclaimed._

" _I can't believe it, this can't be happening," Number 21 said._

_[Number 12 has been hit]_

" _We've fallen under attack upon descent," Number 4 said._

" _What do we do now?! Everything's falling apart!" Number 2 yelled._

" _Calm down! You need to stay focused!"_

_[Number 13 and Number 14 have been hit]_

" _These are orders directly from command, in order for the mission to progress as scheduled, leadership will be transferred to Number 2," Futaba said._ " _Number 2, please confirm your position of authority."_

" _Wh- who- me?"_

" _Number 2, respond!"_

" _Uhh, yes! I'm the squadron leader, right? I understand!"_

_TIME: 15:45_

" _Number 2, you may be Number 21's captain, but my captain is still Rose!"_

" _Huh? Wait! ...they left. Haaa... Why does everything seem so hard as a Captain? Ugh, Captain Number 2 doesn't even sound right!"_

_TIME : 22:08_

" _Number 2, you really are a lot like a human."_

" _You know about me?"_

" _Of course, I know about all you guys."_

" _Ah, then tell me, have you ever seen a human before? I doubt someone like me ever will, but you..."_

_TIME : 04:13_

" _Number 2, come find me again when you have time... I've been wanting someone to talk with."_

" _O-Okay! Heh heh heh!"_

" _What're you laughing about?"_

" _Th- The Commander?! Sh*t, don't startle me like that, I had no idea you were standing right there!"_

" _Number 2...you need to stay focused and watch your language, you're a squadron leader now."_

" _Uh, alright, I'm sorry! I'll do better next time!"_

_TIME : UNKNOWN_

" _You must have realized it. We were created to die... That's why we cannot let Number 21, Number 16 and Lily's fight be for nothing!"_

" _But... It's so fucked up for everything to just turn out like this!"_

" _Number 2, do you no longer want to fight? As an android, don't you think that's strange?"_

" _Don't give me that crap, they're all dead now... aren't you sad? Even a little bit?!"_

" _Of course, I am! But we need to stay focused on the objective. We have to fight because that is the purpose of our existence."_

" _I'm not afraid of fighting, 4, but to lose our friends in the battle, it's so sad. Why...why must we feel such emotions? We're just androids...but we are so human."_

"一A2! Hey! How'd I know I'd find you out here?!"

' _It's Popola.'_ She turned around. "What do you want?"

Popola presented a serrated sword to A2. "Ta-dah! Type-3 sword as requested!"

"...thanks." She aimlessly swung around the sword to get a feel for its weight and reach.

"It's not the flashiest or most attractive sword, but it's proven in combat."

"Not too bad, it hits harder than a Type-4O sword."

"Not necessarily. Damage output from the Type-4O series is pretty consistent, not to mention generous with its combos, versus the Type-3's varying damage output and weak combo game, but those are just base stats, now if you upgrade it then blah blah blah blah-blah..."

"Okay, I get it. For not being made for combat, you sure know way too much about weapons."

"You get to know a lot about weapons once you get attacked enough, besides, a weapon supply trader should know a lot about their own product. Which speaking of, I got a tip from the other weapon supply trader of a really awesome sword just lying around in the abandoned factory! He didn't tell me exactly where, but I'm sure someone like you could find it and maybe, I don't know... show it off to me, but whenever you get a chance, of course!"

"I'll keep it in mind. By the way, has Sora been up? It's been a good hour since we came to the Resistance camp."

"No, I haven't, sorry. Humans are supposed to sleep for like hours though, so maybe wait until tomorrow."

"We don't have time to wait for tomorrow, staying in one position for too long is dangerous, and who knows how many of those heartless are multiplying while he just sits around on his ass."

"I think you're putting too much pressure on him. He did choose to stay here and help us instead of doing the sensible thing and go home to his friends and family.

"...I'll give him another hour." And by that, she meant, however long it took for Popola to get distracted by something else and not constantly be watching her, which was approximately 35 minutes. A2 opened the door to the room and found Sora lying curled up on the bed.

"Hey," She said.

"I'm up...A2, can I talk to you about something?"

"Go ahead."

"Being here...I mean, I'm glad I got to meet everyone, but I still really miss home and being with all my friends. I think about them all the time and I don't even know if I'll ever see them again. It's not like I don't want to save this world or anything and end everyone's suffering, but...it's my fault, isn't it? That everyone keeps killing each other, it's because I'm human. I'm just hurting everyone else by being here, maybe you were right, I do bring nothing, but misery to this planet."

"Don't say that, now you're making me feel like shit too."

"I-I'm sorry A2."

"You don't have to apologize...listen kid, none of this is your fault and you didn't bring misery to this planet, I was just talking out of my ass. Besides, I think you're selling yourself too short, you know how many androids practically worship the ground you step on? You're all they ever want to talk about, pretty boring conversation if you ask me."

That brought a smile to his face.

"...thanks A2 for trying to cheer me up. It means a lot to me."

"Oh, uh, sure... just meet me outside whenever you're ready." She left the room only to find Popola and Devola standing outside.

"What?"

"So did you find out what was wrong with him?" Popola asked.

"Hopefully you didn't make him feel worse," Devola said.

"I guess...he was feeling shitty about being a human and said he missed his home and stuff. I...I just told him whatever would make him feel better, that's all."

"You...told him whatever would make him feel better?"

"So nothing good," Devola concluded. "But it does sound like the kid's homesick."

"Homesick?"

"Yep, I don't blame him, us androids are no real replacement for his human friends. Especially not you A2."

"Uh-huh, and how do I stop him from being 'homesick'?"

"Why don't you do something nice for him," Popola said. "Something he wants to do for a change that doesn't involve fighting machines or androids since I figure he's tired of doing that."

"Like what?"

"Good question, uh...oh-oh, I know! Why don't you take him to the amusement park? There are no hostile machines, as far as I know, and there's plenty of things a human would enjoy."

"..."

"Come on A2, I know it would make his day if you showed how much you cared about him!"

"And it'll raise his morale so he'll become a better fighter," Devola said.

"Good point." A2 returned to the room and Sora was still in the same fetal position as she left him. "...I was thinking maybe we don't have to go to the apartment complex right now."

"What do you mean? I know those things I said earlier might have been a little selfish of me to say but-"

"No, the heartless can wait for another 24 hours. We...we should go to the amusement park instead, it's something a human would like and you won't have to worry about fighting anyone."

"Wait- seriously?!"

"Seriously..." She muttered.

"A2!" Sora shot out of bed, then tackle hugged A2. "Of course I wanna go to the amusement park!"

"...right."

"You're such an amazing friend, you know that?!"

"No, I'm not, it was all Devola and Popola's idea. You should thank them, not me."

"- Don't put yourself down A2," Popola poked her head out of the door, then let both of them in. "You're the one who was worried about him! I just gave you an idea."

"So, you were...worried about me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I was worried about you. Happy?"

"Awww, A2!"

"Okay, that's enough sentimental garbage for today. Hug me one more time and I knock you out, got it?" A2 left the room, then slammed the door behind her.

"That's A2 for you," Devola said. "At least she's not gonna drag you around another battlefield, huh?"

"Hopefully you'll feel a lot better too...and a little more at home," Popola said.

"Hey, then you guys should come with us," Sora said.

"...we'll catch up," Devola said. "We aren't exactly in the best condition after that fight in the canyon."

"Oh, I understand. Thanks again, I'll see you guys later then!"

Sora met with A2 outside the Resistance camp. "Popola already sent me the coordinates to our destination, it won't take long to reach the amusement park."

"Wow, so do androids have a mini-map in their heads or something?"

"Yep, it's a shitty map, but it's functional. Now come on, let's not waste any more time."

The two ventured out into the City Ruins, it felt like ages since they were last together, but Sora was happy to be traveling alongside A2 and watch the world unravel right before his eyes. However, that happiness quickly flushed out into disappointment when they stopped at a deep manhole. "Uuuuugh, not another sewer!" He groaned.

"Get over yourself kid, it'll all be over soon." And she was right, for the most part, they got lost halfway through thanks to A2's kind of shitty 3D map projection glitching out underground, but besides that, it didn't take long for them to reach the other side.

"Whoa, look at this place!" Sora exclaimed, climbing out of the manhole.

"I already don't like it here," A2 said.

Unlike the other areas they've been to, the amusement park was still operating as though the humans didn't abandon it centuries prior due to the machine's intervention. Explosive fireworks and colorful balloons decorated the sky while machines dressed in gaudy costumes paraded around the street, throwing unlimited amounts of confetti in time to the theme music playing from an unknown location.

To add on top of A2's already long list of things she hated about the place, the machines began chanting as if to mock her.

"oH wHat fUN! oH WHAt fUn!"

"LeT's bE hAppY TogETHer!"

"ToGeTHEr! tOGetHer!"

"What the hell am I looking at? And why is this music so goddamn loud?!"

"Geez A2, it's like you've never been to an amusement park, they're just trying to have fun like we are. Come on, stop looking like you want to murder everyone and let's go on some rides!" Sora grabbed her arm and dragged her inside.

"I don't see anything, just more junk," A2 said.

"Huh, wonder where all the rides are? These machines look friendly, maybe they can help us."

"That's not gonna backfire..."

Ignoring A2's comment, he waved at a machine holding balloons. "Hey- hey mister! Do you know where all the rides are at? We saw some at the entrance, but we have no idea how to get to them."

"Have fun! Let's be happy together!"

"Hm?"

"Don't worry! The ride's almost over here."

A2 narrowed her eyes. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"No, I think he actually means we're at the end. Look!" Sora went over to the gated entrance where he could finally see the rest of the park's attractions. "Oh wow, that castle's so cool! It almost reminds me of ..." He stopped himself and focused his attention on the giant Ferris wheel and roller coaster looping around the castle in order to distract himself from slipping into that mindset again.

"It doesn't look like this is the way to get to the rides," A2 said. "The rest of the park's probably closed off."

" _Or_  I bet there's a back entrance somewhere," Sora said. "In fact, I saw another open gate on our way here!" He retraced his steps to an empty lot where two shady looking machines were standing around.

"Nothing here, you know," One of the machines said as they were about to go through a corridor.

"Out of our way freak," A2 said, brandishing her sword.

"Of course! Right this way, admission is free of charge!"

Past the dark alley, they arrived at the first of not very many busted up park attractions. "It's one of those rocket rides, too bad it's all broken," Sora said.

"Yeah, too bad," A2 said.

"...I know, I'll make my own ride! I got most of my other powers back, so I think I should have attraction flow too!"

"Do whatever you want, just leave me out of it."

"Wha- no! Pleeease! It's no fun being all alone!"

"Fine. Whatever you're going to do, make it quick."

"Yesss! Let's go Mad Tea Cups!"

Before A2 even realized it, she was briefly riding around in an oversized teacup and that was all she remembered until her visual field got out of sync and her inertia control system totally shut down. Next thing she knew, she was staring at a brownish, reddish blob, her visual field was in the process of booting up so everything was still a little blurry, but she could make out the blobs enough to tell it was Sora.

"Hey, A2, you okay?" Sora offered his hand to her, but A2 arbitrarily decided it was  _less_  humiliating to remain on the ground.

"Uuugh do humans torture themselves for fun? That was...horrible."

' _Who knew someone like her would even have motion sickness.'_  "Guess we'll go on a ride that doesn't spin around so much. Whenever you're ready."

With the aid of her sword, she struggled to her feet. "What's next...?"

"That Ferris wheel looks like it'll be a little more up to your speed."

"No... I know exactly what you're trying to do."

"Huh?"

" _You_  don't think I can handle these stupid human death traps, but you're dead wrong. We're going on whatever the hell that thing is-" She pointed her sword at the roller coaster.

"Awesome! I love roller coasters, they're like my favorite rides!"

They used the rocket ride as a platform to get to the other side, then made their way to the roller coaster. "Usually there are a lot of people at amusement parks, so you have to wait forever to ride the roller coaster, but since it's just us, we can ride it as many times as we want  _and_  get the front seats!"

"Great."

Despite there being no one visibly present to operate the roller coaster, it rolled all the way down to the platform by itself, waiting for Sora and A2 to board. "Let me get this junk out of the seats first-" He hopped into the cart afterward, then A2 reluctantly joined him.

"This is gonna suck..." She said.

The roller coaster started back up again, slowly climbing up the hill. Sora marveled at all the sights as they ascended to the top, he could see everything from the destroyed forest castle to the clustered buildings of the City Ruins, all the way to the where the city ended and the desert began. "... I never noticed it until now, but this world really is beautiful," He said.

"Heh, you're one to state the obvious," A2 said.

Once the roller coaster reached the top of the hill, it dipped downward, picking up immense speed as it flew on the rails. Finally, this was something A2's android body could handle, after all, she passed the crash simulation course of her flight unit training with flying colors so she was used to feeling out of control. And for the first time, she actually felt the slightest bit of enjoyment sparking in her circuits, but she couldn't tell if it was from the roller coaster, or the hostile amusement park machines flying over to crash the party.

"I've been waiting to cut down some machines!" A2 let herself out of the roller coaster cart. Her substantial weight and her now-functioning inertia stabilizer system worked together to make sure she didn't immediately fly off the ride, but it did present an unconventional fighting terrain she would have to work around.

"A2, what're you doing?!"

"Don't worry, kid, I can handle these guys!" Taking aim, she threw her Type-3 sword at the flying machine, then called it back to her arsenal. She went a few steps backward to the edge of the roller coaster train, then took off into a running start and she leapt into the air where she sliced the next machine in half.

However, A2 miscalculated the speed of the roller coaster and ended up having to grab hold onto the edge of the last cart as the ride took another sharp nosedive. Out of nowhere, a machine holding an ax landed down on the middle of the roller coaster train and charged at A2, but before he could even ready his weapon for attack, Sora struck his keyblade through the machine's back.

"Hey A2, you oka-aaaay!" Without high tech machinery to keep him grounded, the whipping winds and rapid speed sent Sora flying off the roller coaster and A2 had to let go to catch Sora in her arms.

"I told you I could handle them dumbass, yet you're still trying to play hero," A2 said, landing on the bottom railing.

"Sorry...I guess the ride's over," Sora said, motioning to the roller coaster speeding around the castle while they were stuck at the bottom. They jumped off the railing and continued on the ground.

A2 wound her arm around. "So much for there being no hostile machines, but at least they were normal for once and not those messed up heartless possessed ones."

"Oh yeah, now that you mention it, it is pretty weird that we haven't encountered any heartless lately...A2 there's one more place I want to check out! Come on!" Sora ran back to the gated entrance from earlier, "That empty building down there caught my attention, I think we should investigate it, I can feel the presence of darkness inside."

"You sure? I mean, as much as I hate to admit it, it's not like we came here to fight or anything, whatever's going on isn't our problem."

"But it's my problem! I...I know what I said earlier, but I'm still the only one who can defeat the heartless! I can't just sit back and do nothing while lives are at stake!"

"Tch, this is why I can't stand you, Sora...I wish you could just be selfish for once in your life, this saving people stuff is so annoying."

"Hey, I can't help it, helping people's what I do!"

Together, they went inside the abandoned opera house, after a flight of stairs leading to the next room. Sora's suspicions of there being darkness inside were correct, although not in the way he imagined, instead it was Adam 一 someone who he least expected considering his state the last time they encountered each other.

Adam revolved his head around, breaking away from the android corpses he was working on, to his new guests. "Hello, what a pleasant surprise. I've been searching tirelessly for you human and now you've simply presented yourself to me. What good fortune."

"Adam? But..."

"You look surprised, but we machines are immortal, invincible, due to sharing a connected network. You on the other hand, well, you've come just in time to participate in my latest experiment."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Nullity**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been listening to "I Dare You" by The Regrettes and the song reminds me of A2 and Sora's relationship from A2's POV at least. And maybe "Sunflower" by Post Malone and Swae Lee would be how Sora sees their relationship, idk yet, no shade to A2 though :p


	11. Lost Child[R]en

Not wanting to sit through another monologue, A2 bolted to Adam and attempted to stab his chest, but what appeared to be a type of force field around him, prevented her sword from making contact.

"Oh, I remember you, the  _loathsome_  android from the desert. Still as presumptuous as you were back then I see," Adam said.

"...Weren't there two of you?"

"You mean Eve? He's not here with me at the moment, but I believe you'll find me just as worthy of an opponent!"

She swung her sword again and again...and again to no avail while Adam kept his calm composure despite being under heavy attack.

"Are you done?" He finally asked. "Unless you have any other tricks up your sleeve, hm? Because I have plenty."

"一We're not done yet!" Sora's keyblade, Nano Gear, was right above Adam's head. Instead of passively blocking the attack, Adam grabbed his keyblade, which proved to be a mistake on his part, as the microbots reassembled themselves to phase through Adam's hand and land a direct hit.

While he was briefly stunned, A2 pulled back and Sora did the same.  _'So he consciously puts that barrier up, which means he's not completely impervious to attacks.'_  "Sora, hit him with that one attack you did in the forest."

"Got it! I just need to take aim!"

But Adam wasn't simply going to stand around and wait for them to break through his impenetrable defense with whatever plot they schemed up, so he teleported right in front of Sora. "What an interesting sword. I imagine it possesses unfathomable power compared to our own feeble weapons when pushed to its limit, so let's test that theory out!" He snatched his arm, then tossed him up in the air where he teleported above him and slammed his leg down on Sora.

A2 caught Sora in her arms before he collided with the ground, then Adam teleported again, seemingly discontent with standing in one position for too long.

' _Now he doesn't want to stay still anymore. What a fucking nuisance.'_ "Plan B, Sora, follow my lead!" A2 figured now was as good a time as any to activate her Berserk Mode since they were quickly running out of options. With her awakened power, she quickly overwhelmed Adam, unleashing one devastating blow after the other and she was even able to keep up with him as he teleported around the stage room, eventually pinning him down on the ground.

"Now, Sora!"

"...oh no, not  _now_ , but I've yet to show off my latest creation!" He snapped his fingers, then the android corpses on the stage he was working on suddenly came to life and were rushing to his side with their weapons drawn out.

"DO IT SORA!" She screamed.

But his indecisiveness as to whether carry out A2's plan or protect her from the incoming possessed androids gave way to an impulsive desire to follow whatever his heart told him to do. In that split second, he cast thundara to stun the androids, then ran over to A2 who was recovering from Berserk Mode activation.

Meanwhile, Adam took it as an opportunity to teleport away from Sora and A2. ' _While this is an interesting development, I'll have to take matters into my own hands if I want to expedite this process and I'll start by eliminating the android.'_ "Unlike the machines you've faced, my androids possess a bit more...components to them, so this experiment isn't over just yet."

He used the darkness to reanimate more android corpses for his disposal and sent them their way. True to his word, the androids began undergoing a bizarre transformation, discarding their robotic appearance and opting for a form that resembled a monster that was the result of a failed lab experiment. Although, the shadowy 'skin' and piercing yellow eyes were unmistakably inspired by heartless, a disfigured, misshapen heartless, but a heartless nonetheless.

"What's wrong with you?! Why are you even doing any of this?!" Sora yelled.

"For research purposes, what else? Once I learned of the heartless' tendency to possess empty machine bodies, well, it was only a natural progression from there on out to satisfy my curiosity. And now I'm left with the burning question of what the heartless will do to a human!"

_'Forcing an android to do something so disgraceful as to serve under a machine is one thing, but this is just fucked up.'_ A2 had no qualms with mercilessly cutting down her fellow androids, seeing them as nothing more than extensions of Adam. However, her attacks seemingly had no effect on them, nor did she even know  _what_  she was attacking in the first place. "Damn it! Use your dumbass weapon to finish these guys off!" She yelled.

"Uh...okay..." Sora hesitated, still hearing what little humanity they clung onto from their dismembered voices.

"̷1̷0̶D̴ ̸t̵o̶ ̶t̴h̶e̸ ̶c̵o̶m̴m̵a̷n̶d̷e̶r̴,̴ ̸w̸e̵ ̸n̸e̴e̸d̶ ̷b̷a̷c̶k̴ ̷u̵p̸ ̶t̴h̶i̴s̴ ̷m̸a̸c̸h̶i̸n̵e̴ ̸i̸s̸"̶

"̴I̷ ̴t̸h̷i̴n̷k̴ ̴i̶t̷'̶s̸ ̴o̸v̴e̵r̴ ̵f̶o̴r̵ ̸u̸s̷.̷"̴

"̷P̸l̵e̷a̷s̷e̴,̷ ̷s̷o̷m̷e̵b̴o̸d̶y̷,̷ ̶a̵n̴y̵b̷o̶d̸y̶,̴ ̸H̴E̴L̶P̵!̸ ̸W̸e̸ ̷n̵e̷e̸d̶ ̴b̶a̷c̴k̷ ̸u̵p̴!̷"̵

"Not this shit again! Sora, they're already dead, they can't be 一" A blast of energy shot straight through the possessed android A2 was currently engaged with and it carved a gaping hole into the side of her body.

"A...A2!"

Adam discarded the possessed android like garbage, then grasped A2's head, devouring her body into darkness. He opened his mouth to speak meaningless words, but was cut off when Sora dug his keyblade into Adam's chest.

"BRING HER BACK RIGHT NOW!" He cried out.

"Heh, heh, heh! HA HA HA! Yes! That hate and disgust you have for me is一" Adam's words lost to Sora as he relentlessly battered him with his keyblade over and over until he could feel a semblance of all the pain he inflicted upon so many others. And he couldn't stop. He  _wouldn't_  stop. Something deep within Sora had finally snapped and he was blinded by the rage consuming him.

Adam loved every bit of it, feeding off every drop of pain and suffering the boy could muster because, to him, there was nothing more human than pure, utter hatred.

_'This is exactly what I wanted from you, human, but I won't die by your hands. Not now.'_

With the power of darkness, the last of Adam's android corpses rose from their graves and knocked Sora unconscious from behind. Adam lifted his limp body into his arms, barely able to stand himself. "...Do you know the greatest weakness of humans? Their connection to others."

* * *

…

…

…

_I remember this feeling._

_How could I forget?_

_It wasn't that long ago when I was trapped in this never-ending void_

...

"Look, look she's still alive! I knew it!"

"Will we still able to sell her off for parts?"

' _Those are machine voices.'_ A2 tried to get up, but a sharp pain immediately shot up through her circuits. The surrounding machines stared at her, some were intrigued, others were concerned, but none of them attacked her, which somehow pissed her off more than if they did. "What the hell are you-" She went into a coughing fit and spit out a mouthful of blood before she could finish her sentence.

"Are you okay, android?" A machine asked, based on its large stature and more forward approach compared to the others, it appeared to be the leader amongst them.

"Don't waste your pity on her, boss. She's going to die soon anyway, I bet there's a lot of valuable resources on her. Let's collect them before her body shuts down."

"Come any closer and I'll k-k-00C#LL00yy8#9o3u4! [Error code 131: voice audio output malfunctioning]!"

One of the follower machines waved its arm around. "What was that all about?"

Another machine shrugged. "Maybe she's having a bad day."

Fighting through the pain, A2 made a second attempt to stand on her feet, but everything felt so heavy, as if the entire world came crashing down on her shoulders, trying to force back on the ground. However, giving up so easily just wasn't built into her code, so she dragged herself across the floor if that's what it meant to keep moving.

Unexpectedly, the other machines ran to her side and gathered around her.

"3294241111." ' _I can't even tell them to get away from me. Damn it, if they're going to kill me, then why don't they just do it already?'_

"Alright everyone, together, let's pull her up!" The leader machine announced.

_'Wait, are they actually going to help me?'_

"You can't be serious boss, she's an android! What if she kills us?!"

"If she wanted to kill us, she would've done so already. Now, everyone put your back into it!"

Little by little, the machines helped A2 up to her feet.

"Ugh, she's so heavy!"

"Come on, just a little more!"

The machines pulled A2 up high enough for her to use her to sword balance herself. She stared at the machines in contempt, then confusion, not sure what to make of them.  _'A machine helping an android? They lost their minds.'_ A2 concluded in her head, nevertheless _,_ she bent down and carved the letters 'T' 'H' 'A' 'N' 'K' 'S' into the ground with her hand.

"T-H-A-N-K-S? What does that mean, boss?"

"It means she's grateful! Anytime android, we're happy to help you."

"I still think we missed out on a lot of valuable resources..."

A2 limped out of the opera house, her sword supported most of her weight, and her legs were at least semi-functioning. Despite her worsening condition, the thought of saving Sora was what pushed her body forward past its limits.  _'Sora, wait for me. I won't fail you again.'_

She almost made it out of the amusement park when Devola and Popola walked in, Popola carried a gift in her hand, but when they saw A2, she dropped everything to rush to her side. "Oh god...Devola, help me carry her," Popola said.

"What happened to you...and where's Sora?" Devola asked.

"[Error code 131: audio file not found]"

"...That's not a good sign. She's retained her voice recognition, but her voice audio output is messed up."

"There's a giant hole in her side too, we need to hurry back to the Resistance camp!"

They made the long trek all the way back to the Resistance camp, but A2 was only awake for about half of it until most of her systems shut down, save for her vital functions, in order to prolong what little life was left in her.

一

A2's eyes flickered open. ' _The Resistance camp.'_ She thought. ' _Those two saved me.'_

"Oh good, you're finally awake," Popola said, she was in the middle of sharpening her sword, but put down her tools to tend to A2. She waited for a response on A2's end but received nothing short of a blank stare. "Still can't speak, huh? And after all the work we put into refining that component."

Devola wasn't as attentive to A2 as her sister and continued sharpening her sword, although she did glance in A2's general direction when she spoke to her. "Hey, maybe it's better that she doesn't mouth off to us anymore, right?" There was concern in her tone, but it was lost in her incessant snark.

Popola shot daggers at Devola. "Don't listen to her, you know how she can get. If something's not working, I'll get right on it!"

Moving her head slightly, A2 made a gesture for her to stop. "...It's fine, I can speak."

"Thank goodness...so is everything working okay? Anemone helped us out with repairs and we were able to do a much better job fixing you up than the last time."

"I ... I want to know why you're doing this for me, it's not like I've ever done anything good for you."

"You don't have to," She smiled. "We're friends now and this is just something friends do for each other."

A2 could only see her smile as a facade, believing her act of kindness had ulterior motives. "...Is this because you feel guilty, Popola? Don't, it's my fault he's-"

"Stop right there. I'm helping you because I want to, I care about what happens to you, A2. But even so, it's all my fault any of this happened. I'm the idiot who suggested you go to the amusement park! And I'm deeply sorry for it, I really thought there were no hostile machines."

"Don't say that, I was there, and you weren't...how long was I out anyway?"

"Just 5 hours."

' _She says that like it wasn't a long span of time.'_

"一A2, I'm glad to see you're okay," Anemone said, walking into the infirmary. "I was starting to worry you wouldn't make it, but your durability is impeccable."

A2 acknowledged her presence by giving her eye contact but didn't go much further beyond that in terms of conversation.

Anemone reacted accordingly, used to this side of A2 by now. "I see, well, whenever you're ready to talk, the information you give us might be able to help us locate Sora."

Her hand curled into a fist and she could no longer look at Anemone's face. "...Adam took him."

"...That's unfortunate, according to the reports I've received about him, he's been actively hunting down the human and attacking androids who oppose him. I guess an encounter between you two was inevitable, but it's hard to say what he'll do next with Sora. I'll go take another look at the reports and see what leads I can find." With that, Anemone returned to her work as usual.

"Ah, she's so formal. Well, is there anything else we can do for you A2?" Popola asked.

"No."

Devola moved closer to A2. "Uh...when this is all over, let's go for a drink sometime, just me and you, A2."

"When this is all over? What're you talking about?"

"My sister and I thought we could help out by taking a look around the amusement park."

"In the meantime, you should rest up for a bit A2 and take it easy," Popola said.

"I wouldn't count on it...and Devola, when this all over, I'm all for getting wasted."

She smirked in an attempt to hide her smile. "Me too."

"You two really need to learn better coping skills," Popola said, sighing in defeat.

While the twins were getting ready to leave, A2 was surprised to see 2B, of all androids, run inside the camp. Her body language appeared to be frantic, but she couldn't know for sure since her facial expression rarely deviated from her usual tight-lipped frown. Regardless, something had to be wrong with 9S's total absence from her side— a sentiment A2 shared with 2B.

2B conversed with Anemone first, then to Devola and Popola who were standing nearby. The three began talking with each other, occasionally motioning over to A2, after their conversation ended, 2B made the mistake of approaching A2.

"What do you want?" A2 grumbled.

"You lost Sora?"

"...yeah."

"Understood...Devola and Popola told me Adam took him and since 9S went missing around the same time frame, it's safe to assume Adam is connected to both their disappearances. I believe locating 9S will lead to both Adam and Sora. That is all." She turned around to leave, but A2 struggled out of the infirmary cot to follow after her.

"-Wait 2B...let me join you, please, I know we're enemies, but I'm to blame for Sora's disappearance. I want to at least be the one to save him."

"I can save both of them alone. You're in no condition to fight."

"You think I'm actually worried about myself? I can die like this for all I care! Besides, Adam's different now, if he uses those heartless against you, then who will be there to save  _them_  if you can't?"

"Are you actually telling to me place my faith into you and believe you'll carry out the mission if I can't? You're a betrayer to YoRHa and you'll likely betray me as well."

Pod 042: Ex-YoRHa Unit A2's knowledge of Adam would be useful in battle. Proposal: Unit 2B should allow Unit A2 to accompany her in order to increase the likelihood of success in the mission to retrieve Unit 9S and the human.

2B crossed her arms. "...Fine, but I won't hesitate to kill you if you show any signs of insubordination whatsoever."

_'I'm not just going to let you kill me that easily.'_

"—Hold on, A2!" Popola called out. "I know I shouldn't be surprised that you're not listening to me and going out to battle anyway, but you need to take precautions and not be so reckless. Otherwise, too much stress on your body will cause it to shut down completely, and there's only so many times we can fix you until...nevermind, just promise to be careful for me, okay?"

"Yeah, I get it...thank you." She mumbled that last part under her breath, hoping Popola wouldn't catch it, but her small smile said otherwise.

A2 and 2B set off from the Resistance camp, an unlikely duo, but a necessary arrangement if they wanted to find their friends and defeat a common adversary.

"We're going to the Flooded City to locate any surviving YoRHa units using my pod's dynamic scanner," 2B said after a while.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I suppose you wouldn't understand the concept of helping a fellow android."

"Oh, now isn't that thoughtful and not blatantly following orders from command."

"I don't know what you're trying to insinuate, but if you don't want to follow my direction, then leave."

"Whatever, you're clearly not taking any of this seriously by wasting time doing side objectives."

"You think I'm not taking things seriously?! You're the one dragging your feet on the ground and complaining about helping other androids when they're our only way of determining 9S's location in a timely manner!"

"You're one to talk about doing things in a timely manner! They could be dead right now and you want to focus on rescuing some androids because they MIGHT know where 9S is?!"

"Do you have any other better ideas, A2? Well, do you? Of course not, you don't ever think of saving anyone but yourself and that's why the human's gone—"

In the heat of the moment, A2 slapped 2B in the face and before either of them knew it, they were on the ground beating each other up.

Pod 042: Alert

"WHAT?!" Both A2 and 2B yelled.

Pod 042: Multiple machine lifeforms detected above current position

They quickly rolled out of the way as a medium biped machine wielding a giant spear landed on the ground. Several other smaller machines joined forces with the larger machine, each possessing a weapon that was more dangerous than the next. Although the most dangerous weapon was A2's rage which reached a boiling point and with one swift movement of her blade, she decapitated each of the smaller machine's heads.

Meanwhile, the spear-wielding machine was 2B's target and she jumped over A2 to get a clear shot at the machine, firing a powerful laser from her pod to vaporize its head off.

"Those machines were a joke," A2 said.

"I know, it was almost like a... diversion. Pod, A060: P Shield, charge level 2!" A protective barrier formed around 2B and A2— a good call on 2B's part since they were bombarded with explosions from exploder type machines.

They used the barrier to gather distance away from the machines, then 2B relied on the gatling gun function of her pod to destroy the rest of them. A2 was pretty much forced into the sidelines while 2B took initiative since she could only fight at close range and figured sticking a sword through one of those ticking time bombs wouldn't end well for her. ' _These pods are a lot more useful than I thought, I'll need 2B to save Sora whether I like it or not.'_

"...I think that's the last of them. Pod, scan the surrounding perimeter just to make sure."

Pod 042: No machine lifeforms detected in the immediate area.

2B turned to A2. "If you want to leave, then go ahead, but I won't hesitate to eliminate you next time we cross paths."

"I...changed my mind. The fighting capabilities you provide are useful and accommodate my own."

She stepped closer to A2. "Then I'll continue working with you, but if you slap me one more time, I'll consider it an act of insubordination."

"Go ahead, I'll consider it a challenge."

Their barely concealed hatred for each other carried on all the way throughout the City Ruins. For some reason, they could put aside their differences enough to fight the machines, but outside the battlefield was essentially a waiting game of who would be the first one to attack the other.

This game continued on until they reached the Flooded City, where they encountered another group of machines. They seemed slightly more competent than their previous adversaries since they were all equipped with long-range blasters, not that it fazed A2 in the slightest, but 2B dragged her behind a rusted-over school bus before advancing any further.

"What're you doing? I can take them," A2 argued.

"In case you forgot, Popola told you not to be reckless. There are more ways to fight than just throwing yourself at the enemy."

"Tch, like what?"

"Pod, A110: Slow!" A giant force field swallowed the machines, distorting time and slowing down the firing rate of their ammunition. A2 went ahead and sliced the machines into pieces, earning another would-be easy victory if a Medium Flyer machine didn't also descend upon them. Unlike the others, this machine didn't hesitate to attack, immediately shooting a round of spherical projectiles at A2.

The flat, wide cutting edge of A2's Type-4O blade shielded her against the flurry of projectiles, so the flyer machine opted for a more direct approach and tilted itself at an angle for its buzzsaw attack.

' _This machine's really starting to piss me off, and 2B's still taking cover.'_ A2 had no choice but to dodge as the machine shredded down the concrete road, cutting the school bus in half lengthwise in its path of destruction. ' _There goes 2B, damn.'_

But 2B wasn't the android to be easily taken out by a machine and she landed beside A2 completely intact. "I had to change my pod programs so we could easily deal with this machine," 2B supplied

"Ah, so how do we kill this piece of shit?"

"I just need you to take out a few of those flight devices."

"You make it sound so easy."

"Just follow my lead and it will be easy."

When the flyer machine was revving up for a follow-up buzzsaw attack, 2B used a decoy generated from her pod to distract the machine and bring it closer to their range. After which, 2B leaped high up in the air, extending her Type-4O blade out. "A2!" She called.

Using 2B's blade as footing for a jumping-off point to reach the flyer machine, A2 dug her blade into one of the flight devices, destroying it upon impact. Then took down another one before she was catapulted off the machine.

Now that the machine was at least partially handicapped, 2B utilized her hammer pod program to deal a devastating blow, crushing the machine. 2B collected what spare parts from the machine she could use, then uploaded them to her database. "...where's A2?" She wondered aloud.

A2 emerged from a pile of debris, on her way to 2B, a part of her arm fell off, which she promptly re-attached.

"You're holding up well."

"Very funny. Now, where are the androids we're supposed to rescue?"

"I picked up a signal close to this location." 2B jumped off the roadway onto a small patch of land where, sure enough, a YoRHa soldier laid helplessly.

"W-Where am I...?" The android muttered.

"Don't worry, I'll send a distress signal to the bunker."

Pod 042: We are currently searching for a missing YoRHa unit, designation 9S. Should you possess any information on the subject, please disclose it at once.

"I have no clue...sorry."

"She's seen better days. The machine must've really done a number on everyone," A2 said.

"It was from a large scale EMP attack, not many survived, but we have to save the few who did."

The dynamic scanner brought 2B and A2 to a building nearly submerged underwater, the YoRHa soldier in question laid at the base. "Hey, you alright?" 2B asked.

"Ungh...anngh..."

Pod 042: No anomalies detected in black box signal. However, her language core seems to have been damaged.

"I know how that feels," A2 said.

2B shook her head. "Poor thing, you're going to be fine. Pod, send a rescue signal to the Bunker."

Pod 042: Affirmative. Subsequent black box signal detected nearby in the east.

"Yeah, I see her too." This YoRHa soldier was at an odd location, lying on a broken-off piece of road just over the water. 2B reached closer to touch her shoulder, but the android suddenly jolted awake.

"Eek, who...who are you?!"

"Don't worry, I'm-"

The android clasped onto A2's leg. "I f-f-found you! Finally. I've been looking for you A-A-A2!"

"Huh? Wait, that's right, you were one of the pursuer androids who tried to kill me! Maybe I should return the favor!"

"Don't hurt her or I'll hurt you!" 2B carefully separated the YoRHa soldier from A2. "Sorry to startle you. Just stay here and wait for help, okay?"

"Urrgh...mission...failure."

"Look, no offense, but none of these androids have been helpful to us," A2 said.

"We just haven't found the right android yet, the scanner's still picking up signals." At the last accessible area of the Flooded City, 2B located another YoRHa soldier lying on the side of a deteriorated school bus.

Pod 042: Black box signal detected. Life functions operational.

"Pod, employ a check module and logic virus vaccine...Easy now, I've contacted the Bunker. They should be here soon."

"I'm going to get straight to the point, do you know where 9S is or not," A2 said.

"9S...ugh, what the hell do  _you_  want with him?"

"She's with me," 2B said. "If you know anything about 9S, then please tell us, anything would be helpful."

"I've seen him alright, that explosion sent him flying. I'll give my best guess at a landing spot and transfer the location to you."

Pod 042: Target location obtained. Marking on the map.

"Thank you, help should be on the way, take care."

"Oh, so where are we headed next?" A2 asked.

"To the cave within the City Ruins..."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Unawareness**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I included a scene where A2 went batshit crazy in the resistance camp after losing Sora so Dev and Pop decide to restart her system, and I had a joke in there where Dev was like "We haven't tried turning her off and on again" I ultimately cut out the whole scene, but I thought I'd share that stupid joke with you guys. Anyways, next chapter's going to be simple and clean~


	12. [T]ell Me The Truth

_There's nothing here._

_So...where am I?_

Sora's eyes wandered around the empty space.

_How long have I been here?_

He took a step forward into the endless void.

_And where is everyone?_

_Am I alone?_

He tried calling out for help, but there was no one there to listen.

_Like, is any of this for real...or not?_

"Sora!"

"Sora, is that you? We missed you!"

_Those voices...I recognize them from anywhere!_

_Kairi…_

_Riku…_

_Wait for me!_

Sora chased down the voices, finally going somewhere, then he found what he'd been looking for after so long.

_I found them._

_I found them?_

But the people who stood before Sora weren't Kairi and Riku, it was Adam.

"Are you angry? Do you hate me? Then take that rage and let it consume you," He said.

"Why are you here?!"

"Ha ha ha!" His hollow laughter echoed throughout the void. "Why don't you ask yourself that? This is your curse after all."

"What the...no! Get out of my head, Adam! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"Then wake up."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Darkness**

* * *

When Sora woke up, he was blinded by the white sky. Once his eyes adjusted to his new surroundings, he could make out an ivory white city sprawled out before him. It was devoid of any color due to it being constructed entirely of crystallized silicon and carbon, although the heartless darting around remedied its lack of color palette, giving the city a monochromatic appearance.

The creator of such a ghastly creation was none other than Adam, who was pacing around him until he realized his pet project was finally awake. "Human...or should I call you Sora?"

"ADAM!" Sora tried to get up, but he was restrained to an examining table and was forced to sit through whatever monologue about darkness and hatred Adam concocted for him.

"Now, now, let me explain your current situation. You see, I considered dissecting you, but after that violent display of humanity you showed me, I concluded you were far too interesting to kill just yet. You're different from the rest of the humans and I want to know everything about you."

"Well you're just wasting your time, I'll never tell you anything!"

"Oh? Don't worry, I have my ways of getting exactly what I want. Right now, I just need you to confirm a few things for me...I've done extensive research on humans and you operate much differently than them."

"...You have power intrinsic to you, in the form of this weapon," Adam constructed a replica keyblade with the same materials he used to build the city. "And with it, you brought back the heartless." He summoned the creatures of shadows to the world of light.

"The heartless are very intriguing to me. Their insatiable desire to destroy everything around them is something so uniquely human despite their inhumane appearance. I thought that by studying them, I could learn more about humans." He circled around Sora. "And through my research, I discovered something quite fascinating."

"Where are you going with this?"

"There's something...otherworldly about the heartless, about  _you_. It's odd that the heartless haven't been around for thousands of years, according to recorded human history, and yet you were the sole catalyst for their revival."

' _What does he mean? He's talking as if the heartless have been here before, but that can't be true.'_

"It's almost as if you're a foreign invader and none of the events we've seen unfold were supposed to happen...Although that's neither here nor there, just mere speculation on my behalf."

"I'm tired of this, let me go so I can beat that smirk right off your face!"

"But I'm not done yet. I'm convinced the heartless were actually once human, ravaged by their own hatred," His smirk widened into a full-on grin. "And since I want to understand everything about humans you're going to display that hatred and show me the very essence of humanity! Maybe you'll even become a heartless in the process, won't that be interesting!"

"No, I'll never do that, I told you you're just wasting your time on me! Besides, all this talk about hatred and the heartless, that's not what it means to be human. There's as much light in a person as there is darkness, and if you can't understand that, then you wasted all your research for nothing!"

"...I see, maybe I am asking a bit too much from you," But the ambiguous tone of Adam's voice he exuded with each word he spoke said otherwise. "Since you're so incredibly small-minded, then take me to the moon, or wherever you  _actually_  came from, and allow me to perform tests on more willing humans. 'Riku' and 'Kairi' were the names, correct? They'll be an excellent place to start."

Sora's eyes went wide for a brief moment. "...how do you know about them?" He asked quietly.  _'So that stuff he said to me wasn't all a dream? He was really there?'_

"I have my ways. Now, what'll it be, dear human?"

"No...of course not..." His strong will, however, was wavering at the mention of his closest friends, at the mention of  _Kairi_  and Adam consciously picked up on his weakness so he could turn it right back on Sora.

"...it appears as though I'll have to resort to violence." A group of blocks clustered together, then dematerialized, revealing 9S. He fell down on his knees, but before he even got a chance to catch his breath, several sharp blocks shot up from the ground and pinned his arms and legs to the back wall in vain resemblance to a crucifixion.

"9S!" Sora screamed.

"Augh...angh...ugh...So..ra..."

"Well, Sora? Should I finish the job or will you make this easier for all parties involved." Adam rose another stake from the ground, then sent it spiraling towards 9S's chest. With his friend's life on the line, it pushed an already furious Sora over the edge and he went directly into rage mode.

Breaking free of his restraints, Sora grabbed hold of Adam's neck, then slammed him on the ground where he stabbed his chest over and over again with his keyblade. Adam attempted to teleport out of harm's way, but Sora was much faster than he anticipated and the moment he re-appeared, Sora lunged at him and brought him right back to the ground.

"Yes yes YES...this power! This HATRED! HA HA HA! This is exactly what I wanted from you! Tell me, is this is what it means to be human because I'll gladly become one with the darkness and achieve humanity!" Adam teleported away one last time and the blocks surrounding him fell to the ground. "I've severed my connection to the network, now, let us embrace the darkness as one!"

—

Water droplets sharp as needles splashed on their legs as A2 and 2B raced through the cave, they went down a diverging path where they found an elevator leading to a lower portion of the area, "Would 9S of even gotten this far?" 2B wondered aloud, entering the ominous elevator cart.

"This area was sealed off the last time, so Adam probably dragged him all the way down here," A2 said.

Pod 042: Alert: Possible enemy ambush ahead.

A2 crossed her arms. "...Does that thing always have to state the obvious?"

"It's one of the pod's primary functions."

"Goddamnit..."

Following a very drawn out elevator ride, they arrived at the Copied City as it was crumbling away by the seams. The darkness invaded the very infrastructure, slithering its way through the angular buildings and street corners.

"What is this?" 2B asked.

Pod 042: Analysis: This area is composed of crystallized silicon and carbon, the black substance is a foreign element and its composition is identical to the creatures classified as 'the heartless'. Further details unknown.

"So Adam's definitely here, figures," A2 said. "I'm guessing he built this place too, right?"

Pod 042: Unknown

"Of course you don't know."

The further they went along, the more android corpses they saw pile up along the street.

"They must be from Adam's experiments," A2 said.

"What is he doing with them?"

Right on cue, a small army of android corpses rose from the dead when the darkness coursed through their bodies.

Pod 042: Alert: Enemy androids detected

"Yeah, no shit!" A2 said.

"Damn it, I don't have time for this!" 2B ran ahead and slashed the androids with her sword, but her attacks had no effect on them. "What the hell is going on?!"

"It's the heartless controlling them, that's why they're still moving," A2 said.

2B retreated back to A2's side. "No kidding, got any ideas?"

"You're asking me? Guess you've run out of options."

"I figured you would know more about the heartless than me."

"Yeah, you're not wrong, but we're still fighting androids, so just hit them with-"

Suddenly, the possessed androids piled on top of A2 and 2B one after the other in an attempt to crush them. An unusual tactic, but not one that the androids couldn't easily overcome with endurance. After A2 clawed her way to the surface, she screamed, "2B, USE VOLT!" The surge of electricity paralyzed the android bodies, rendering them immobile for a brief period of time and a brief period of time was all they needed to tunnel themselves from the pile of corpses.

"If this is what Adam's capable of, we have to hurry for 9S's sake!" 2B yelled.

However, when they reached Adam, he was already engaged in battle with someone else and from where they were standing, he appeared to be on the losing side. "Looks like one of his heartless finally turned on him," A2 rose her sword. "2B, I'll finish Adam off, you go look for the boys, I'm sure they can't be far from here."

"Sora's the..." 2B stopped herself, almost sympathetic to A2's blissful unawareness of the human's true nature because she knew she had a soft spot for him,  _'I'll keep this matter to myself, she'll find out on her own eventually.'_  Her hand wrapped around Virtuous Treaty's hilt. "Nevermind... only Adam knows where they are, so we'll fight him together."

The two androids rushed in on Adam, due to his departure from the machine network, he was unable to teleport like he used to and had to physically move his body in order to avoid premature death. Not that he wasn't already on his death bed— huge portions of his machinery were clawed out and he could barely stand on his feet, yet despite being on the verge of dying, he'd for once felt like he was actually living.

"What the hell did you do with Sora!?" A2 swung her huge sword at Adam that he manually dodged this time around and he got first-hand experience to just how precise and brutal A2's fighting style actually was. Not to mention Adam had to take into account 2B's presence while trying to keep his limbs attached, and while he managed to maneuver out of being stabbed by 2B, he didn't have the same luck with her follow up attack when spears from the ground impaled his body, forcing him to stay in one place.

"And where's 9S?" 2B asked, the tip of her blade scraping his neck.

"Yes, that's the feeling, pure HATE! Don't deny it, let your hatred consume you!"

"Shut up and answer the goddamn question," A2 said.

Without further hesitation, the back wall chipped away, unveiling 9S's crucified body right before their eyes. "9S!" 2B screamed, not holding back an ounce of the emotion pouring through her voice. For his next reveal, Adam produced a toothy grin and through clenched teeth said, "That thing over there is Sora."

Those words sealed his fate to death by sword and he saw his white city turn into crimson red until it too was washed out by a color and smell that reminded him of petroleum oil as the heartless he once ruled over with an iron fist were now feasting off his machine corpse.  _'This is human.'_  Drifted in the machine's head, lost in an echo chamber that soon ceased to be.

A2 and 2B only gave Adam a passing glance, their attention pulled away in different directions, 2B to 9S and A2 to Sora, who was crawling over to Adam's corpse, driving his keyblade into his mangled body. "Stop it, Sora!" A2 grabbed onto Sora's arm, preventing him from going any further. "Look...he's already dead. Stop this."

He didn't respond, the darkness still had its clutches on his heart.

"I'm sorry...it's my fault you're like this..." A2 couldn't understand why her voice was breaking or why she felt this deep wound pulsating in her circuitry. Or even why the one person that made her so happy, be the same one who just as easily fucked her entire world up. All she knew was that it made her viscerally angry to witness his fall from grace.  _'Goddamnit, that machine's lucky we killed him so mercilessly otherwise I would've given him hell. It's always the good ones that end up this way.'_

However, they were not yet allowed a moment of reprieve when the once white city was shrouded in pitch-black shadows. From the shadows, Adam rose, reborn as a heartless, though he retained the body of a man, the rest of his appearance bore no resemblance to neither man nor machine.

His body came in the form of multiples; there were multiple 'eyes' on his head, multiple appendages extending from his body that he could retract on a whim, and multiple blocks from his beloved Copied City sticking out of him. He used those blocks to form a crystallized silicon and carbon death scythe, then swung it at the androids, but his attack was intercepted by the keyblade.

"...you...but how..." Adam uttered. "...the darkness..."

"My heart's strong! I won't let you hurt my friends and I don't need the darkness to defeat you!" Sora's burning desire to protect his friends manifested itself into Hero's Origin, a strong, but heavy keyblade that he could rely on to carry him throughout battle, and he knocked Adam back.

Adam retaliated by hurling an onslaught massive dark spheres at Sora, he used his keyblade to block the spheres until it transformed into counter shield and it stacked enough to damage for a devastating counter-attack. A giant fist propelled out of the shield, crashing into Adam's body and sending him flying a few feet backward, but he quickly regained footing. With one of his arms, Adam snatched the shield, casting it to the side, then wrapped another one of his arms around Sora's body, A2 sliced the arms off and took Sora for herself.

"Sora, what the hell is that thing?" She asked, setting him down.

"It's Adam...he's...he's like some sort of heartless now." His hands balled up into fists and he narrowed his eyes at his companion. "A2, you guys need to get out of here! I'm the only one who can defeat the heartless, so let me handle him!"

"Are you crazy?! I'm not just going to leave you!"

"What- why?!"

"-Because that's what we're programmed to do." 2B joined A2 and Sora, holding an unconscious 9S in her arms. "...9S is in critical condition, I'm going to bring him somewhere safe, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

"No, I'll carry out the rest of the mission," A2 said.

She didn't waste her time trying to argue with someone like A2 and escaped clutching 9S in her arms while A2 stayed behind to face the darkness with Sora.

"Sora, I'm going to stay by your side, not as an android, but as your friend. Let me at least do that for you," A2 said.

"...fine." He nodded and even managed a small smile of reassurance, "Just keep up, okay?"

She frowned. "Don't piss me off."

Sora ran ahead with his keyblade in hand, after maneuvering past several of Adam's arms, he shot a round of firaga balls at him, lighting him on fire. He speedily followed up with the shotlock command, Drain Shock, to chip away at his health.

On the opposite end, A2 held her position, recognizing her ineffectiveness against the heartless. Granted, as an android, she still resented her inactive role during the battle, but that quickly changed when she noticed a shadowy limb rise from the ground she stood on.

' _This day keeps getting weirder.'_ She stomped it out of existence, but that only made two more limbs rise in its place and wrap their slimy hands around her body. By then, she realized the entire city was infested with limbs squirming out of the ground and they'd gotten hold of Sora as well.

A2 tried to break free, but they had a surprisingly tight grasp on her and held her down, forcing her to watch Sora come to the same conclusion. ' _Damn it, this is pissing me the hell off.'_

While Sora was held captive by the shadow limbs, Adam created a white trident and dug the sharp-edged prongs into his chest.

"SORA!" A2 yelled.

"Don't worry... every hit I take only makes me stronger." Grasping his hands on the trident, Sora pushed it out of his stomach, then summoned Shooting Star. "...this ends...now." He said in a low voice.

The exceptional magic prowess of Shooting Star lent itself well to his current situation and a quick application of Thundaga destroyed the limbs binding him. He got a few more hits on Adam, then was able to power up into his penultimate formchange; Element Form. His keyblade transformed into double arrowguns and he used his increased firing rate to blast the surrounding area with blizzard spells, freezing the shadow limbs.

After twirling his guns around in his hands, Sora pointed them at Adam, enunciating, "Thundaga." As his finishing move, but Adam suddenly vanished into thin air right before the bolt of electricity could hit.

Anticipating Adam's next move, Sora leaped backwards, barely avoiding his skull getting sliced in half by the blade of a longsword and decided to fall back on defense while Adam pursued him with his newly crafted weapon. However, that only backed Sora into a corner with nowhere else to run, fortunately, A2 was there to clash swords with Adam and prevent him from advancing on Sora any further.

"Ah- thanks for backing me up, A2!"

"You can thank me later- kill him while I hold him off!"

"Already on it!" His double arrowguns remodeled itself into its final form; the artillery style Magic Launcher, and he scaled up the city walls to get a better shot at his target. At the same time, Adam threw A2 out of his way, then deconstructed his longsword into a bow and arrow, not wasting another second to eliminate Sora.

The substantial weight of the Magic Launcher didn't allow for Sora to make the swift movement he needed to and he was victim to more than a few arrows piercing through his body, but he didn't let that stop him. He  _couldn't_  let that stop him, not when he was so close to ending this fight for good.

So Sora pushed forward like he always did, lugging the Magic Launcher directly at Adam and blasting a powerful charge of magic that swallowed Adam whole. ' _Finally, it's over.'_ Was his first and last thought as exhaustion took a heavy toll on his body and he came plummeting down to the ground where A2 caught him in her arms.

Sora could just barely turn his head enough to see Adam slowly fading away into nothingness.

"...so cold...so dark..." Adam stared directly into Sora's eyes. "...is this is...what I've been searching for...?" Yet he truly could not find the answer because he lacked a heart, or at least the machine equivalent of what a heart would've been, if they even had one. His life was ending as a mere former shell of himself, desperately searching for the fragmented pieces he lost along the way.

"Am I...Am I finally human?"

And then he was gone.

Nothing.

Nobody.

But all that mattered to Sora and A2 was that they were still alive. Even as the Copied City collapsed in on itself and they questioned their own sanity, all that mattered was that they were still  _alive_.

Sora let out a soft groan in discomfort, Curaga was a big factor in him not immediately bleeding out to death, but his entire body was throbbing in pain. Forget moving anything past a few inches even though he resented that he was once again being carried in A2's arms like a child, something she's had to do enough times to irreparably damage his self-esteem... Regardless, he was grateful to A2 and concluded that her total silence would make now a perfect time to express his gratitude before he fell unconscious or one of his organs failed, something inconvenient like that, "Hey A2," He began, wanting to start off more casual.

"...What?" She took longer to respond than usual, probably lost in thought.

"Thank you...for staying with me..."

"Yeah, whatever."

"And...uh..." He searched for something else that A2 wouldn't brush off so casually. "...you really are a great friend..."

A2 sheepishly turned away from Sora, then mumbled, "You're...not so annoying."

"Ah, you're getting better at giving compliments."

"Don't push your luck or I might  _accidentally_  drop you."

"Yeah...that's the A2 I know...aangh..."

A2 smiled at him, a real, genuine smile, not something half-assed like she usually did because she knew her days with him wouldn't last much longer. ' _I can't let you stay here on Earth, you have to go home, Sora.'_

—

A small, stubby machine wandered around a barren world, not sure what to make of its new surroundings, "What the...where am I?" It waded across a thin pool of water to reach a cold beach shore illuminated by the moonlight.

"How did I get here? Oh well, at least it's quiet." But the machine spoke too soon, as several heartless manifested from the ever-present darkness. "That doesn't look good."

Luckily, before the heartless could attack the machine, they were destroyed in one fell swoop by a cloaked individual. "Looks like I came just in time, you okay little fella?" He offered his hand to the machine. "Come on, don't be afraid, we'll find the light together!"

"Um...who are you?"

He chuckled. "I'm King Mickey!"

" _ **Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.**_

_**I died, and behold I am alive forevermore."** _

_**Revelation 1:17-18** _


	13. [S]imple and Clean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it's Chapter 13 for 13 darknesses, thought I'd just thank y'all again for the reviews and comments. A lot happened between then and now so thanks for staying with me:)
> 
> And to clarify about what happened last chapter, the heartless created a portal to get from kh world to Nier world in order to pursue Sora. That's how that machine was able to find itself in the realm of darkness.

"King Mickey?" The machine repeated. "Are you a...machine?"

He shook his head.

"Android?"

"Nope, that's not it either!"

"So what are you?"

"I'm Mickey Mouse and don't you worry, you'll be safe with me. You have my word as king!"

"...Okay. I'll follow you."

"Great!" Mickey fished out a gummiphone from his pocket. "I'd like you to meet a pal of mine, he's been searching around in the Realm of Darkness with me and we'd be happy to help you find your way back home!"

*ring

*ring

"Hey Mickey, what's up?" A deep voice greeted.

"Good news, I found a friend here from another world, he might even be our key to finding Sora! Why don't you meet him?" Mickey showed his gummiphone to the machine only for it to go berserk and obliterate the phone. Mickey gawked at the now charred remains of his phone, his face scrunching into worry. "...this is a problem."

* * *

_Dear Sora,_

_It's already been a few months since you've disappeared, I can't believe it either, it felt like just yesterday you were here with me. But don't worry, I've been thinking of you everyday. I guess if I'm being honest, it's hard for me to go on with my daily life, not knowing whether you're okay or not . . ._

_I've still been continuing my training under Master Yen Sid, Axel doesn't come train as much as he used to since he apparently has the whole keyblade thing down_ _一_ _his words, not mine_ _一_ _I think it's because he gets extra practice from Roxas and Xion, which is so not fair! I mean, I STILL have to go to school for some reason, even though I helped save the world uuuuuuugh_

_Oh- Roxas told me he wants to have a rematch with you whenever you get back. He's pretty confident he'll beat you this time around and who knows, unlike you he isn't a lazy bum so he might actually beat you, but I'm just kidding of course!_

_Speaking of keyblade training, GUESS WHAT? I'm training under MASTER AQUA now! ∑(ﾟﾛﾟ〃) Yeah I was pretty surprised since I'm kind of garbage and she's usually so busy being a keyblade master and all, but whenever she gets a chance, she comes to Destiny Islands and gives me a few pointers on advanced magic spells and keyblade techniques... In a way, she's kind of been like an older sister to me. We've gotten really close lately because she gets how I feel about you being gone and everything. Who knows, with all this training I've been getting, maybe me and you could spar with each other sometime~_

_Let's see...what else? Donald and Goofy haven't changed much, they still really miss you of course. King Mickey and Riku look around in the Realm of Darkness for you, I get worried for them, but I know their hearts are strong, it's just, you know, hard for me and Riku. It's hard staying at Destiny Islands without you here with us, which is probably why Riku's gone so often. I haven't been all alone, though, Naminé's living in Destiny Islands with us, in fact, I'm here with her now at the beach, we're not collecting seashells or anything for once, yeah I know that's a surprise, (꒪⌓꒪) just watching the sunset together._

_We should do that again Sora, watch the sunset, and afterwards maybe we can even... sorry, I guess I'm rambling a bit, it just feels like we're so close to finding you! Until next time 〜٩( ╹▿╹ )۶〜_

_Thinking of you, Wherever you are,_

_Kairi_

The golden sand felt warm on Kairi and Naminé's skin as they relaxed near the shore, after a blistering hot day on the beach, the sun was finally beginning to set so the moon could take it place in the night sky. Late hours like these were Kairi's favorite time to travel out to the beach, although she could never truly enjoy herself no matter how serene the day was because of the overwhelming sadness that washed over her knowing  _he_  wouldn't be here to enjoy the day with her.

Meanwhile, the beach was practically Naminé's second home. She would've stayed there from dawn till dusk, capturing the breathtaking scenery in her sketchbook, if Kairi didn't force her to attend school with her. Today she was doing something a little different from her garden variety beach themed drawings and decided her subject would be a pencil sketch of Kairi writing her letter.

"Okay, I'm just about done," Naminé said, after putting the finishing touches on her sketch she presented it to Kairi who smiled. "Sooo what do you think? I'm trying out a more realistic style!"

"Oh my gosh, that's  _amazing_  Naminé!" She was able to meticulously recreate a breathable image of Kairi, even down to the small details, like individual strands of hair or that faded scar on her cheek she received a few weeks ago from keyblade training gone wrong. "Seriously, how are you able to do all that? You could make so much munny just from selling your art!"

"Aw, thanks Kairi." She let out a giggle. "But I'm not interested in making a profit, it's just a passion of mine."

"Well you'd blow the competition out of the water, trust me."

"Ha ha, I think you have more confidence in me than I do."

"Of course, I always support my friends!"

"Ah, then I think you should show Sora at least one of your letters whenever he comes home."

"What- no!" She shrieked. "They're all really personal, he'll probably think I'm obsessed with him or something..."

"But Sora's not the type to be judgemental, he still called me a friend despite everything I did so some letters shouldn't be that big of a deal."

"Yeah... not happening."

"Oh come on, can I see them at least?"

" _Definitely_  not happening."

The girls shared a laugh with each other and for a moment, there was brevity in Kairi's heart.

Then all of a sudden, a dark corridor manifested on the shores of Destiny Islands, nothing out of the ordinary as this was a daily occurrence, but this time around, King Mickey came out of the portal with someone or some _thing_  else by his side. Kairi and Naminé dropped everything to rush over to the king's new companion.

"Welcome back your majesty, who's this little guy?" Kairi asked.

"That's what I've been trying to figure out, from what I've gathered, he's from a world called 'Earth'."

Kairi and Naminé exchanged confused glances.

"Earth?" Kairi said. "I've never heard of that world before."

"一Ah! Stop touching me android or I'll destroy you!" The machine yelled.

Naminé pulled her hand back. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. You're so cute!"

"I am not cute, I am a vicious killing machine and a nightmare to all androids!"

"He thinks you guys are androids," Mickey elaborated.

"Androids? Aren't those robots who look like humans?" Kairi asked.

"Maybe he's from a world in the distant future where all humans have gone extinct from an incurable disease and have been replaced by androids," Naminé said.

Mickey and Kairi blankly stared at Naminé who shrugged in response. "What? It's just a hunch."

Kairi shook her head in defeat, long past the point of trying to understand her counterpart. "I guess that's not...outside the realm of possibilities..." She turned to Mickey. "Does Riku know about any of this?"

"Well uh," He rubbed the back of his head. "I tried to let him know, but once he saw Riku's face, he destroyed my gummiphone and I lost contact with him, but I'm sure we'll see him anytime now."

"That's kind of scary... you don't think this robot has anything to do with..." She trailed off, but Mickey, knowing exactly where she was going, nodded his head in confirmation.

"I've never heard of 'Earth' so there's a chance Sora might be there and if there's even a slight chance of finding him, we have to at least give it a try."

"Then I'm all for it, whatever it takes to find Sora."

—

"Never treated a human before..." Popola cleaned the open wounds on Sora's body with a damp cloth while she had her sister gather some medicinal herbs. It was basic medical procedure, but it was all she could do since cracking him open to fix the internal components was pretty much out of the question.

The other androids weren't much help in the human department either, 9S suffered severe damages from Adam and was being repaired at the bunker, while 2B and A2 offered Popola advice ranging from letting Sora sleep it off to using alcohol to numb the pain, respectively. ' _I have my work cut out for me.'_ Popola thought as she wrapped a thick roll of gauze around the gashes. ' _But it's worth it to save you, Sora.'_

Outside of the infirmary, A2 waited on Sora with her arms crossed and a murderous look on her face. She felt a part of herself twisting up inside when she saw Sora lying so pathetically on the infirmary cot. Was it her actually worrying for him or just a malfunction in her programming? Probably the latter if she had to wager, after all, it wasn't built in her to care so much about someone who wasn't herself, but her attachment to him was undeniable at this point and it was eating her the hell up inside.

"—A2," 2B approached her with yet another new, badass looking sword, causing a bit of jealousy on A2's end that she still had her two crappy swords. "Despite your loyalty, or lack thereof, I do consider you somewhat reliable based on your performance on the mission."

"Never thought I'd hear those words come out of your mouth."

"You were helpful at times and the mission wouldn't have been nearly as successful without your help."

She shifted her weight. "Uh...yeah, don't mention it."

"In any case, I got word from command that the human transportation vehicle has made contact with the surface and are in transit to the Resistance Camp."

A2 went quiet for a moment, processing the information. "...good." She eventually mumbled out. "It's better that he's gone."

"I didn't expect to hear that from you."

"...I don't want him to be miserable, and he will be if he stays here with me."

"I see, you're not as selfish as I thought you were." She turned the other way. "I'll be departing on another mission."

"Uh huh, you still gonna kill me next time we see each other?"

"Depends on if you make the mistake to cross paths with me."

"Then let me know where you're going so I'll steer clear of it."

"The abandoned factory, apparently there are machines who want to negotiate a peace treaty."

"That doesn't sound like bullshit," She said with thinly veiled sarcasm. "Then again, if they end up killing you, it makes my job easier."

There was a hint of a smirk on her face. "Of course you would say that."

A2 watched 2B disappear into the City Ruins, soon becoming a mere image in her memory files. She let out a sigh. "It's better that he's gone..." She said under her breath, repeating it a few times for good measure so she would believe it to be true.

_Don't leave me_

"...huh? Did someone..." A2 swerved her head around the camp, but everyone was going about their daily activities. ' _Guess I must be hearing things.'_

_I'll be all alone without you_

_So don't ever leave me_

' _What's going on?'_

_'Who the hell is talking to me?'_

_Number 2..._

_Number 2 don't go!_

_Stay by my side_

_You promised me that much_

A2 looked back to the infirmary, Popola began to reach for another roll of gauze and she felt herself moving towards her, but her body stopped dead in its tracks when she heard a voice calling for her.

"Hey A2!" The voice called out一softly spoken and a tone married to sarcasm, Devola's voice no doubt. A2's eyes pursued the distant twin to the infirmary, there was a basket of medicinal herbs in one hand and a bottle of liquor in the other. She gave A2 an inviting smile, enticing her to follow.

"一You sure took your time Dev," Popola remarked, lifting her head up to meet Devola.

"Not my fault your description was impossible to understand." She shoved the basket into Popola's arms. "Next time go look for 'white flowers that look like daisies, but it's not actually a daisy' by yourself."

"Okay, that  _was_  my fault, but the only human medical archives we have access to are pretty much corrupted beyond repair. It's a..." She lost her train of thought when she saw A2 suddenly standing across from her, the usual fire in her eyes replaced with stark shadows. "Oh A2, I didn't see you there. Checking up on Sora, again? I think he'll be just fine, don't worry about him."

A2 didn't respond, instead she kept her attention locked on Sora's sleeping face. "...Sora, I guess this is the last time I'll see you until the war's over. You were annoying and pissed me off pretty much all the time, but you made my life a lot less shitty than it already was, so...I am kind of glad I met you, kid."

"Huh, that's probably the nicest thing you've said to him," Devola said.

She pulled away from Sora, facing the twins. "Maybe I'll see you two some other time."

"Are you going somewhere?"

"Now that Sora's going back to the moon, there's no reason for me to stick around this place any longer. Just save me a drink for when I do come back."

"...Sure. I can do that, but don't be gone too long or I'll have to drink it all myself."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Please take care A2. We're here if you ever need anything," Popola said.

"I know. Maybe I'll come back with that sword you wanted, if I feel like it."

"I'll look forward to it!"

With the Resistance camp behind her, A2 ventured out into the City Ruins, a renewed sense of purpose. ' _I'll check out the desert again to see what all the commotion was about last time, then go to the abandoned factory for that sword. It shouldn't take as long since he's not here to slow me down, but...'_  She shook her head. ' _No, this is right, it's better that he's gone.'_

Before A2 could set out for the desert, she ran into a squadron of YoRHa soldiers with a captain leading them and stationed in between two leaning skyscrapers was a massive, state-of-the-art aircraft. Going off its glossy metal exterior alone, A2 figured it was manufactured no earlier than a week ago. ' _That must be the human transportation thing 2B was talking about.'_ She kept a hand close to the hilt of her sword, wired for any soldiers that might recognize her.

"一Stop right there! You're A2, aren't you?" The captain shouted. "You're that wanted Ex-YoRHa soldier!"

All A2 remembered about the captain was the shrillness of her voice and how pale her face turned when she pushed her sword into her chest. ' _Almost like a human.'_  She retreated into one of the surrounding skyscrapers where a group of YoRHa soldiers chased after her while the rest stayed behind to decide who would take on captain responsibilities.

As A2 scaled up the levels of a building as empty as she was, she heard the drumming sound of pods firing echo throughout the structure, ringing in her ears.  _'There's_   _pursuer androids after me just like the old times.'_ Once she reached the rooftop, she traveled via the tops of buildings towards the desert in order to get the pursuer androids off her ass. ' _Won't lie, it's not the same without him slowing me down or attempting to befriend the people trying to kill me.'_

It didn't take long before A2 felt the burning hot sand particles scrape against her legs like needles as she blazed past the rolling sand dunes. She effortlessly sliced down any machine that had the misfortune to be in her vicinity and scattered their remains so she wouldn't leave an obvious path of destruction. ' _He didn't want to kill these guys before, so I'll kill them for him.'_

The apartment complex she set her sights on was just coming into view when a medium flyer machine descended from the sky. Unlike the other sand coated machines she encountered, this one had an elusive black and red paint job that caught A2's attention. ' _It's an enhanced medium flyer with kamikaze units for safe measure, and I'm the lucky bastard who gets to take it down.'_

A2 brandished her Type-4O sword, then went in to cut off one of the machine's flight units, but the flight unit abruptly detached itself and self-destructed on her upon impact. ' _Damn, that did a number on me.'_  Quickly, she gathered distance away from the machine, but it was relentless and immediately went into buzzsaw attack mode in pursuit of her.

Thinking on her feet, A2 dug her sword into the ground, then flung a heap of sand at the incoming machine as a distraction before she threw herself out of harm's way. She readied her sword for a frontal attack, but couldn't force her body to move the way she wanted to. ' _Shit, this isn't good, it's like my body's acting against me. I need to do something or I'll die to a machine.'_

**Commencing System Check . . .**

**M̶̒ͅê̸̤m̵̮̄ó̵̗ṙ̶̭ý̵͍ ̵͖͠Ų̴̇n̶̯͝ḯ̶̗t̷̲́:̶̭̋ ̷͉̒R̴͈͛ě̴͉d̴͔̕**

**Initializing Tactics Log**

**L̴͚̽o̴̢͌a̵̟͋d̶̫͝ĭ̵̞ṉ̶̉g̷͖̒ ̸͚̀G̴̠̀e̶̹̕ọ̷͝g̶̬̋r̴̖͆a̵̱͠p̵̬̽ẖ̷̎i̶̘͗c̵̪̚ ̸͕͠D̵͐ͅa̷͚̓t̴̲̉a̶̭̒**

**Vitals: Red**

**R̵͓͊e̵͔͠m̴̞̀a̴͉̾ì̵͙n̵̰̓i̴̳̔ñ̷̘g̵̗̍ ̴͔̈́M̴͈̎Ṕ̵̠:̸̫̄ ̶̪̄0̵̲̇**

**Black Box Internal Pressure: Danger**

**̶̻͒Å̸̫l̸̠͐ë̴̡́r̴̲͝t̶̩̀:̴̺́ ̷̯̽I̷̠͆F̸͕̑F̶͉͠ ̸̛̹S̸̫͘y̶̺̏s̵̬̉t̸̩̐e̶͖͊m̵̨̑ ̴̝̽F̷̮̽â̵̰i̸̭̚l̷̬̒ụ̵͝ȓ̶̖ḛ̶̀**

**Alert: FCS system Failure**

**A̶̹̎l̶̰̏e̵͖͋r̵̨͠t̵̗̋:̶̯́ ̷̰͋M̵̩̓ù̸͚l̶̨̃t̴̤̀ĭ̶̯p̸͓̄l̸̺̉ę̸̈́ ̵̳͊S̴̲̊y̴̢͝s̶̩͗t̶̥̓ȩ̴̛m̷̱͠ ̷̯̎F̴̗͂á̷̼i̷̹̔l̷̼͛ű̶̫ŗ̸̂e̵̜̋**

**Equipment Status: Red**

**All Systems Red**

**Combat Preparations Incomplete_**

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Nobodies**


	14. Am[N]esia

Crimson red blood stained the desert sand, clumping the gritty particles together. A2 reached down for her severed arm, now coated in a thin layer of sand. It was a close call and if she didn't think to use her own Type-4O blade to shield herself from the machine's attack, she would've lost more than just an arm, however it came at the cost of destroying her most reliable sword and she discarded the scraps of iron into the sand. _'Fuck, I'm down to my Type-3 sword, I don't know how much longer I can go on like this.'_

_But you came here to die, didn't you?_

_To be with me Number 2..._

' _It's that voice again.'_

_Are you ready to join me?_

"...yeah, I think I am, Number 4." A2 collapsed on the sand, the weight of her lifeless body too heavy for her to carry. ' _Maybe when I'm dead, this pain will finally be over.'_ She watched as the enhanced machine revved its motor up, ready to rip her into shreds with its buzzsaw attack. _'This is what I've always wanted, right? I wanted to die. I don't want to keep fighting anymore. I want to be with them.'_

_'So why?'_

_'Why is my body screaming at me to move? Who cares, okay?! Who cares about what happens to me.'_

_'Who cares? Why does that sound so familiar.'_

_'Who cares...'_

And then she remembered.

_"Who cares? Who cares?!"_

_"I care about what happens to you A2! So don't say you rather be dead, because even if you give up, I'll still keep on fighting for you!"_

_"If you're not strong enough on your own, fine,_ _I'll make up the difference!"_

A2 felt a surge of energy course through her wires that snapped her legs into place and forced her body to move under the intensity of Berserk mode. Just as the machine's razor sharp blades were hovering over her, she rolled out of the way, then made a clean slice through the machine's last kamikaze unit with the saw toothed blade of her Type-3 sword.

Now that it was unarmed, A2 had a much easier time cutting it open and hacking her sword at its insides until she had to physically stop herself.  _'This is expending too much of my energy.'_ In a seldom display of restraint, she put her sword away and took her eyes off the half mutilated machine corpse so she would't feel the urge to finish the job. "...I can't keep this mindset up if I still want to live, even if it is for a stupid reason..." She said to herself, barely able to keep her breathing in check.

_'Right now, I need to find somewhere to recover before I go any further.'_ So she took refuge inside the nearest crumbling remains of human civilization poking out of the desert sand. ' _I should get some recovery units, but I think this should be a good replacement.'_ Uploading the bottle of liquor she 'borrowed' from Devola when she wasn't looking, she then guzzled down the intoxicating liquid.

—

Time: 00:00

"It looks like he's still unconscious."

"Just put him in an empty room for now."

"We'll let the Commander know."

Time: 01:07

Sora's eyes flickered open, ' _It's freezing in here.'_ Was the first thought that popped in his head, his mind was still mentally catching up to him. It took another second for him to register his new surroundings, granted it wasn't much to look at; a small, simple room with a desk and bookcase. "Whoa, what even is this place? Oh man, I'm not sure I remember what happened... my head's killing me." Once Sora slid off the bed and planted his feet on the ground, a sharp pain shot through his leg, which was just what he needed to jog his memory.

He let out a soft groan. "Ugh...that's right...I was fighting Adam and then A2 carried me somewhere... but that doesn't explain why I'm in this place I've never seen before. I need to find A2 and get out of here!"

Leaving the mysterious room behind, he went down a winding hallway that curved upwards towards the end. "Wow, this looks like one of those space stations - wait a second!" Sora ran over to a giant pane of glass and he saw space. Of course space was nothing new to him from his days of flying around in the gummiship with Donald and Goofy, but there was always something so captivating about seeing billions of stars, each representing a different world waiting to be discovered, twinkling on a never-ending black canvas.

He pressed his face to the glass like a little kid, starstruck by a massive planet and the moon that orbited around it. ' _That must be what their world looks like from space.'_ He stood back. "...I guess that means A2 and the others aren't here." Wandering around the space station for a while longer, Sora found himself at an entryway leading inside the space station's very own mission control center. His arrival gathered the attention of the operator androids working meticulously at their stations.

_'What's everyone looking at me for?'_

"It's the human!" One of the androids pointed out.

Several operator androids left their station to clamor around Sora and bombard him with questions ranging from the usual 'is it true that humans do this?' or 'how come humans do that?' to the obscure 'what is the meaning of existence', but one distinctive voice rose above them, cutting through their conversation like a knife.

"一Everyone return to your stations at once, you'll have plenty of time to badger the human." The crowd of operator androids dispersed and a taller android approached Sora. Commander White differed from the rest of the androids in that she was unique, there wasn't a single android built and mass produced exactly like her and she took pride in that fact, after all, she believed it made her more suitable for her role as the Commander to all YoRHa units.  _'So this is one of the humans we're all based off of? We all are just imitations of the real thing aren't we? Every detail so exact and yet we're so far apart from each other.'_

Sora shifted his weight from one foot to another, uncomfortable from the android's prolonged stare. _'Androids definitely have a staring problem.'_

"Hello human," Commander White finally said. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm the Commander of all YoRHa android units and it's a pleasure to meet you. I was just about to have one of my assistants come check up on you, but it appears you made that effort yourself."

"Oh uh...hey. I'm-"

"Sora, right? Yes, I know. I have to ask, how are your living quarters? Are they comfortable enough for you?"

He rubbed the back of his head. "It's fine I guess, but it's a little cold, maybe add a few blankets."

Her eyebrow raised. "It's...cold? I suppose a human would say that. I'll have that arranged for you at once. I'll also have food and water delivered to your room by the...hour, correct?"

"I don't think I'll be needing any food, but thanks, I'd actually like to go back down to your world if you don't mind."

"You're mistaken Sora. You are  _not_  leaving the Bunker and returning to the surface."

"Are- are you serious?!"

"I'm serious. Now follow me, we need to talk."

"Wha- why would I ever follow you?!"

"Either follow me or I'll have my assistants escort you to my conference room." She softened her tone a little, sensing the anger rise up within him. "Listen Sora, we're not enemies and we will never harm you. You are the most important person to us androids, and we need to make sure nothing happens to you. If we can reach an understanding after our talk, I'll let you wander around the Bunker with close supervision or whatever you humans want, but right now, your cooperation is key to the future of mankind."

"...okay, I'll hear you out at least," He muttered.

"Good."

They relocated to a spacious room with a long table and several chairs. Sora and Commander White took their seats right across from each other. "Sora..." Commander White began, she gave Sora direct eye contact which made him squirm in his seat. "...there are no other humans."

She continued. "But I'm sure that information doesn't mean anything to you because wherever you're from, you are  _not_  from here."

"Well duh, I'm from the moon like all the other humans."

"Is that the lie you told them?"

"What...?"

"There are no humans on the moon, or anywhere, they died out thousands of years ago. Them being on the moon is a lie perpetuated by Command in order to uphold android morale."

Sora shot up from his chair, knocking it down, then slammed his hands on the table. "So all those androids died for nothing?! They killed each other for no reason! How are you okay with that?!"

She shook her head. "They don't die for 'no reason', but I've already told you enough."

"So why tell me anything?! What's stopping me from telling the truth to every single android?!"

"Go ahead, I won't stop you. Tell them to their face that their god is dead and that their hopes and dreams are for nothing because there is no future where the humans will come back to Earth." Commander White watched his beaming confidence fade away like a fire with dwindling oxygen supply, almost smiling to herself, knowing she had him right where she wanted him because she played his own strength against him.

"Unit 2B's reports about you were right, hopefully the other humans will be just as easy to play as you."

"...what other humans?"

"Hm, I should be asking you that question."

"You're not making any sense!"

"Well, I've come up with a possible solution to our human problem that will end in the realization of Project YoRHa. By that, I mean we're going to find the other humans from wherever you came from and have them stay on a moon colony until we can eradicate all machine lifeforms, then finally re-integrate them onto Earth." Standing up from the table, Commander White walked around the conference room. "It'll take a few years to build the moon colony since resources have to be divided for the war effort, but in the meantime, we'll have the humans stay here at the Bunker and make it perfectly accommodating for them. We'll be studying you, Sora, in order to better serve the future humans."

She stopped walking. "Because of you, we can save this world."

"No, I'm not going to let you do any of that!"

"What's wrong? It's a flawless plan and don't you want to save the world?"

"No- I mean, yes, I do want to end this world's suffering, but I can't stay here for years, I can't even stay here for months, there are other worlds that have to be saved! And I'm not letting you take anyone away so they can live here forever! Look, I get it, this world is complicated, but taking people away from their homes isn't going to fix your problems!"

"Actually It will fix our problems because the lack of humans IS the problem. I can't fault you for acting human, but there must be millions, maybe even billions of humans from your homeworld, and I only ask for less than a fraction of them to save hundreds of lives."

' _Since when were there billions of people?'_ "But they're not just a number, all of them have friends, family, and connections to others that you can never sever. Even if this society is built on a lie, the connections everyone's made with each other is real, you don't need humans to be happy!"

"We're androids, not human, your appeal to emotion doesn't mean anything to me. Perpetuating project YoRHa is the most effective way of increasing the productivity of androids in the war effort. In fact Sora, it's because of you that battle proficiency has increased by over 200%, your effect on the androids has been nothing but positive because they see exactly who they're fighting for. Imagine the battle proficiency when we're able to broadcast an actual human colony on the moon base... although, if it makes you feel any better, we can specifically bring back your companions."

"No, of course not!"

"Then a random selection of people?"

"No one should have to live here! And what about the heartless, huh? I'm the only one who can defeat them!"

"All the more reason for you and the other humans to stay. It's not as if you can ever go back home, otherwise, you wouldn't still be here."

"..."

"Judging by the emptiness of your facial expression, I assume we've reached an understanding. You're free to roam around the Bunker for the time being with the escort I assigned you until we need to start testing. That is all." Without further hesitation, she left the room.

"..."

_'Now what Sora? There's always a plan B, something else I can do. In situations like these before, I've always had my friends with me, but...'_ He looked around at the walls that seemed to go on forever and then the emptiness sunk inside him.  _'There's no one here to save me, no one else I can turn to. And I can't do anything alone, my friends were always my power I'm nothing without them.'_

_So give up._

_Why keep fighting a battle that you can't win_

_If you're nothing without your friends_

_Then you've always been **nothing**_

The back door suddenly slid open and an android fell face-first on the ground, he quickly scrambled to his feet, then acted like nothing happened.

"Uh...who are you?" Sora asked.  _'He looks a lot like 9S.'_

In fact, the android was nearly identical to 9S except for his black hair that was slicked back, he smiled at Sora in an attempt to alleviate the awkwardness. "Ahem- I'm 4S, Commander told me to watch after you."

"..."

"..."

"...nice."

"Yeah, so uh, you're the human."

"Yep."

"You don't remember me, do you?"

"Nope."

"...goddamnit, that's so not cool man! Come on, I'm the guy your hot android friend tried to kill in the City Ruins."

"Yeah, you lost me."

"A2 threatened to kill me, you don't remember any of that?"

"Oooh yeah! Now I remember, you changed a lot since then."

"It was the lowest point in my life, my partner abandoned me and then some crazy hot android tried to kill me all in one day. So I decided to turn my life around and stop being such a coward. I even slicked my hair back like a badass and got a brand new pod after the other one got destroyed." He bumped fists with his pod. "Isn't that right buddy?"

Pod 077: Affirmative

"Look 4S...can you just take me back to my room. I'm really tired right now."

"Sure thing," 4S walked over to Sora, then held his hand out. "Put 'er there." Surprised an android knew such a human gesture, Sora obliviously reached to shake his hand, only for 4S to slap his hand as hard as he could.

Sora recoiled his throbbing hand back. "What's your problem 4S?!"

"Re-lax man, that's a high five. I thought a human of all people would know about stuff like that."

"...4S."

"Yeah."

"My room."

"Got it."

On the way to Sora's room, 4S did what scanner models do best and flooded Sora with questions about humans until they parted ways, and for once he was happy to be alone. Although even being alone in his room came with its own caveats, much of the room space was now taken up by containers of unappetizing food and there was a neatly folded mountain of blankets stacked on Sora's bed— a passive aggressive move on Commander White's part if he had to take a guess.

"Ah...that was fast."

Sora shoved the blankets off his bed, then plopped down on the mattress. Now that he had a moment to himself, all he could think about was that his world was collapsing around him and he felt powerless to stop it. ' _Even if I do escape, there's nothing stopping the Commander from going to the other worlds and taking them away.'_ He grasped his hands on his face, the severity of the situation sinking into his heart. ' _It's over, I failed everyone and it's all my fault.'_

_"Sora, don't ever change."_

_"Giving up already? Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that."_

_"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning. No sad face. Okay?"_

_"Tch, this is why I can't stand you, Sora...I wish you could just be selfish for once in your life, this saving people stuff is so annoying."_

"...saving people huh? How can I save anyone when I'm stuck here in this prison!" In a fit of rage, he threw his keyblade at the food containers, making its contents spill all over onto the floor. He gawked at the mess he created, a thought soon formulating.  _'Just like they brought the food here, they brought me here too in some sort of vehicle.'_

He pushed his mind an inch further into full on idea mode.  _'A vehicle that they'll use for the humans. Even if I can't change the Commander's mind, I can at least postpone her plans.'_  His confidence returned and he kicked himself back into high gear. "Alright I can do this, steal their space ship and crash land it somewhere on Earth, it's a surefire plan!"

Sora burst out of his room only to find 4S leaning on the wall across from him. "That was a short nap," He said. "But I like the energy, looks like you're ready for some action."

"Yeah- yeah, so since you're my 'escort', then you know where everything is right? Let's say someone was coming back from a mission and they were on a..." ' _What were those things called?'_ "Oh right- a flight unit! Where would they, you know...land it."

"Ah good question, all returning android units from the surface would load their flight units onto the Hangar. It gets kind of crazy down there, but Commander told me that the Hangar was off limits for any human so you shouldn't ever have to deal with that stuff."

"Great she's definitely...looking out for me. So what if I just wanted to check up on what's happening on Earth, touch bases type deal."  _'That way I can at least_ _see how everyone's doing and then figure out an escape plan later.'_

He shrugged. "I guess you could bother one of the Operators?"

"The Operators?"

"Uh huh, those androids on the computer at mission control center, one of them's really talkative so she'll probably help you out."

"Cool, thanks, one more thing...where's mission control center again?"

"Come on I'll show you, that's why I'm here for!"

Sora followed 4S back down to the mission control center, he stayed behind at the entrance while Sora ventured further into the base. The Operators didn't surround Sora this time, but their robotic eyes were glued on him, hoping he'd wander too far off course into one of their stations. ' _I remember one of them, Operator 6O, she can connect me to 2B.'_

He scanned through the blonde heads and veiled faces until he found Operator 6O一it also helped that she was waving at him and repeatedly calling out his name.

"Hey 6O, it's been a while," Sora said, approaching her.

"Right back at ya Sora, you know, I was so excited when the Commander said you'd personally stay in the Bunker instead of going back to the moon. You really are selfless and kind!"

' _The Commander's trying to play everyone against me.'_ "Uh yeah, sure, your friends with 2B, right?"

"2B would never call us friends, but she does tell me everything so I think that makes us best friends if you ask me. Why do you ask?"

"I uh...just want to see how she's doing, since I won't be seeing her for a while."

"Aw, you miss her? That's so sweet, luckily you came just in time because I was about to call her for her regularly scheduled contact." She typed something down on projections of light resembling a keyboard and her monitor flashed the words 'INCOMING CALL'. "Operator 6O to 2B, it's time for your regularly-scheduled contact."

Only the back of 2B's head was displayed on the monitor since she was in the middle of engaging in combat. "This is 2B, now's not the best time to make a call!"

"Okay, I get it, I just wanted to let you know that Sora wanted to talk to you so whenever you get the一"

"Sora's in the Bunker?!"

"It's a bit lengthy explanation, the Commander sent an email detailing the一"

"Yeah! It's me 2B, are you okay?!"

"I'm fine- damn it, Pascal, get out of the way!" She threw her sword at a vicious machine, splitting its head open and a black, shadowy substance spilled out of its machine skull.

"2B, what's going on, is that a heartless?! And where's 9S?!"

"9S is in the Bunker. Look I don't have time for this, Operator disconnect  _now_!"

Operator 6O did as told, then turned back to her human companion. "Sorry Sora, we'll just have to check up on her some other time."

Sora stepped back, his mind racing again. ' _What if the heartless are after 2B and Pascal? And I still don't know where A2 is, I have to get out of here!'_ He tried to leave the mission control center, but 4S stood in front of him.

"Someone's in a hurry," He said.

"I need to leave!"

"Sure, back to your room again?"

"No, I need to leave the Bunker, I can't stay here anymore!"

"Wish I could help you out there, but it's Commander's orders."

"Who cares about that?!" He shoved 4S out of the way, then made a mad dash down the hallway, it wasn't long before he heard the sound of footsteps following after him. He decided to hide behind a door labeled 'Terminal' in order to lose the androids, only to find out it was an elevator that took him down to the lower level of the Bunker.

_'Is this the hangar?'_  He wandered in further and saw another android at the end of the room accessing a terminal, the android turned around, offering him a small smile.

"Hey Sora, long time no see," 9S said.

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Nirvana  
**


	15. D[i]ve to the Heart

*ALERT*

*ALERT*

*ALERT*

"Commander, we've all been getting the same messages, I think we should address the issue."

"I agree, if this keeps up we'll lose our best units and we'll no longer be able to continue with our current war strategy."

The floor was illuminated with red from the 'ALERT' messages cluttering the screen projector. Commander White stared at the screen, her carefully constructed plans falling apart by the seams.

"Operator 21O, broadcast this message immediately," She said.

"Already done."

"This is your Commander and it's come to my attention that black creatures known as the 'heartless' threaten the extinction of androids ... and without androids there will be no future for mankind. So I want every active YoRHa android to prioritize the elimination of the heartless over the machines until the threat is subdued. That is all. Glory to mankind."

Once the broadcast was over, Commander White stepped away from the screen. "...I'm going to take a brief intermission. In the meantime, one of you contact Unit 4S and tell him to bring Sora back to mission control. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Leaving the mission control center, she made her way down the Bunker until she arrived at her own private quarters. ' _It's been a while since I've been here.'_

[Maintenance Request]

' _Not this again.'_

[437 Days Since Last Full Body Maintenance]

[Would_Confirm Authorization_]

[Authorization Confirmed Would_Commander White_Like To Perform Regularly Scheduled Full Body Maintenance?]

[Yes_ **No** _Maybe Later]

[Maintenance Request Successfully Denied_Have A Nice Day]

Commander White waded through piles of discarded clothes in order to reach her cluttered desk. It wasn't that she was against the concept of cleanliness, but between commander duties and dealing with one disaster after the next, it was pretty low on her priority list. Not exactly the best image of 'Commander to all YoRHa units', but behind closed doors, she was only commander to herself

Easing into her desk chair, Commander White pushed a pile of crap off her desk so she could display a topographical map of the world on the counter. After doing a quick visual scan she began marking locations on the map. ' _The 12th reconnaissance division in the apartment district of the desert has been hit heavily with heartless activity, those monsters wiped out about a third of their forces.'_

She typed in several commands to access the central YoRHa database. ' _I'll relocate the tactical units in the Forest Kingdom for back up since there haven't been any reports of machines in that region for a while. Although it leaves the resistance androids of the Forest Kingdom region open for attack from the machines if they do show up so I'll order a shipment of supplies to be sent to them for now.'_

Once she was satisfied enough with her strategic input, she closed out of the topographic map, then opened a file labeled 'HEARTLESS'. There was an incomplete profile on the creatures of darkness, describing everything from characteristics to behaviors based off a compilation of reports from YoRHa units. ' _There's always more than one way to kill a monster, what good of a commander would I be if I couldn't figure out how to eliminate one threat. When the results from the specimen we captured are ready, we'll eradicate the heartless from the face of the Earth.'_

* * *

"Nines! I'm so happy you're okay!" He rushed over to 9S. "Listen 2B's in trouble, come on, you know where the Hangar is we have to-"

"Yeah I know, I've actually been helping her out through this terminal, but I'm glad you're here because the machines are ..." He paused, trying to search for the right way to phrase it. "Well they're trying to force 2B and Pascal to turn into heartless. There's only so much I can do on this terminal, but I'm afraid if I leave them hanging, something might go wrong."

"So let me help you! I've done the computer thing plenty of times before and I've even been made into data! If this is the best way to save them, then I want to try it!"

"Wait you've been digitized before?! Which means the properties of the keyblade can be replicated in a digital format, that might actually work!" 9S clasped his hands on Sora's shoulder. "Go for it Sora, do whatever it takes to keep 2B and Pascal safe from the heartless!"

"Okay, one other thing though, I'm kind of being chased by a bunch of YoRHa androids and they'll probably find me any moment now so..."

"Geez, you're always getting yourself into trouble, but no worries. I'll lock this room with a code and that should buy us enough time until they bypass it."

"Good, then I'm ready to go!" He pointed his keyblade at the terminal and a bright light enveloped the Bunker.

[HACKING SYSTEM] - BOOTING SYSTEM

AUTHENTICATION CODE: USER_UNKNOWN

[PLEASE CONFIRM AUTHORIZATION]

AUTHORIZATION KEY: SORA_KEYBLADE_WIELDER

ACCESS GRANTED

HACKING DEVICE ACTIVATION COMPLETE_

LOADING . . .

Sora: What is this? Everything's so ... blocky

9S: Just follow my lead, I already made a breach through the security systems so re-entry should be no problem

Sora: Right, I have no idea what you said, but sounds like a plan

9S: You sure haven't changed, ah, and there's the hacking terminal straight ahead

9S: Sora, one other thing, your control will be transferred over to a machine body, I'm in a different location at the factory, follow the path of destruction and you'll be able to find me. Alright?

Sora: Got it

HACKING COMPLETE

TRANSFER TO: ABANDONED FACTORY

A small machine emerged from a pile of machine corpses, it began walking around, its metal feet sounding a clank-clank-clank noise on the hollow factory floor.

"Huh? Wait, what's going on?" The machine lifted its arms to its face. "Hold on, this must be what 9S was talking about, which means I'm controlling this robot right now. That's so cool! Now I just need to summon my keyblade and I'll be all good to go!"

A digitized version of his keyblade formed in his claw-like hand, it was in a similar design to the zero/one keyblade, but it lacked any definitive color, going for a more black and white finish. Sora slashed the 8-bit keyblade around in the air a few times. ' _The movement of this guy is so restricted, but I guess I gotta make do with what I got. Wonder if I can still use some magic to compensate.'_

He pointed his keyblade at the back wall. "Okay, let's go Blizzard!"

_1 function initiateAttack() {_

_2 Command = Blizzard (level 5 variation)_

_3 Target = backWall ("keyblade", "blue", "element", "ice,")_

_4 "Blizzard" .start(); }_

Almost instantaneously, the back wall was frosted over with a thin sheet of ice. "I have no idea what just happened, but it worked, I should go catch up with everyone!" Sora turned his rusted head around, scanning the area. "Let's see, 9S told me to follow the path of destruction." He found a match to the so called 'path of destruction' from a mechanical door that had been destroyed completely with machine heads lying near the entrance.

"That looks pretty path of destruction-y." Moving the stiff machine legs as fast as the small motor would allow it, he rushed past what remained of the entryway only to run himself into a conveyor belt with giant compactors that would crush his fragile machine body if he didn't move fast enough, but before he could even take a step, he was lifted up into the air by another machine.

"Sacrifice! Sacrifice!" It chanted. "Become one with the darkness!" The machine held Sora over his head, drawing the attention of the nearby heartless who began clustering around them, slowly swallowing them inside a black chasm.

"Aagh! Let me go!" Sora flailed his arms and legs around to no avail.

"Negative. You do not yet know what lies beyond the door."

"What door?!"

"Behold the endless abyss! Let us embrace the darkness as one!"

_1 function initiateAttack() {_

_2 Command = Firaga (level 25 variation)_

_3 Target = heartless_medium biped machine ("keyblade", "red", "element", "fire,")_

_4 "Firaga" .start(); }_

An enormous fire swallowed the heartless and the machine holding him captive, fortunately Sora managed to escape with only a half-melted arm. "That was close." He kept running down the conveyor belt, destroying any heartless that got in his way. _'Don't worry guys, it won't be long!'_

After making it past the conveyor belt, he was hit with yet another obstacle in the form of crazed heartless-worshiping machines shouting mantra about 'becoming one with the darkness', a phrase Sora had become sick of at this point. ' _Where are they even getting this Xehanort mumbo jumbo from anyway? The only other person who talked like that was Adam, but he's long gone.'_ As the machines were approaching him, he noticed they wore pitch-black robes with a red heart emblem stitched on the front, reminiscent of the heartless.

"Feel the darkness!"

"Set your soul free into the heartless!"

' _Machine's emulating heartless. That's new.'_ Guarding their attacks with his blade, he used circle raid to knock all the machines out in one go, then dropped down from platform to platform until he reached the lowest level where he was greeted by another destroyed entryway. "The heartless really did a number on this place."

Inside the spacious facility was a wave of heartless crawling all over the factory floor with dozens of intertwined dismembered machine bodies. When Sora arrived, the heartless formed into a giant, unstable version of itself and extended its arms towards him.

' _Here we go.'_  He raised his keyblade in the air. "Thundaga!"

_1 function initiateAttack() {_

_2 Command = Thundaga (level 25 variation)_

_3 Target = heartless_small biped machine ("keyblade", "yellow", "element", "Thunder,")_

_4 "Thundaga" .failed(); }_

_5 Error Code = insufficient MP to complete command_

Left wide open for attack, the heartless grabbed Sora and attempt to crush his tin can of a body. With his connection to the factory on the line, he hastily intimidated a new magic command. "Thundara!"

_6 New Command= Thundara (level 15 variation)_

_7 Target = heartless_small biped machine ("keyblade", "yellow", "element", "Thunder,")_

_8 "Thundara" .start(); }_

Bolts of electricity ripped through the amalgamation of machine and heartless. Sora tried to throw his keyblade at the core of the heartless to finish it off for good, but before the blade could hit, it disassembled itself back into regular heartless to avoid the attack. Falling back down on the ground with his bolts barely keeping himself intact, Sora studied his keyblade as it re-formed in his hand.  _'What's going on? If I was in my human body, then this would be no problem, and now I'm running out of MP. Since when do I run out of MP?!'_

The crowd of heartless came back at Sora like a wave. ' _I have to think of something and quick to get rid of all these heartless.'_  Since he was going into MP charge, his offense options were pretty limited in a machine that could only move its arm around in four directions. He had no choice, but to fall back on defense and have his keyblade protect him from the onslaught of heartless while he searched around the facility for anything that could help him. Luckily, he came across a weakened support beam on the verge of collapse. ' _I can at least get out of here in one piece if I bring this place down.'_

Gathering distance away from the heartless, he propelled his keyblade through their air with all the force his machine arms could muster. The keyblade lit on fire during its trajectory through the air and it effortlessly sliced through the support beam Sora was aiming for, as well as the other support beams behind it. Part of the infrastructure collapsed and huge chunks of machinery and cable wires crushed the heartless, Sora scrambled out the back entrance before he met the same fate.

_'And that was a close one too, geez, something always wants to kill me wherever I go. At least it's this machine body taking all the pain for once.'_

"—Hey you!" A robotic voice called out, Sora hesitated, waiting for a face to go along with the voice. "Please help me!"

An unarmed small biped machine ran up to Sora. "You look like a fighter, can you please help me?"

"Sure, what happened?"

"I'll explain it to you on the way, but we have to go now before it's too late!"

Sora followed the machine down another conveyor belt, there weren't any life-ending compactors in the way so it was a relatively smooth trip, save for the occasional heartless Sora swiftly defeated.

"My friend M101-64932 is being held captive and they're preparing to turn her into a heartless," The machine said as they left the conveyor belt and were going down a set of discontinuous stairs. "I barely escaped, but I could never live with myself if I left my friend to die!"

"Don't worry, we'll definitely save your friend!"

"Really?"

"Of course, if I can't save one person, then what good would a hero like me be?"

"Hero? That's a bit of a stretch."

' _Is this machine serious.'_

They burst into a facility identical to the one Sora escaped prior, although instead of a room full of heartless, there were several machines chained together in a circle along the back wall. In the center of the circle were two machines in black robes speaking from a scripture, but their words were suppressed by the cries of the chained machines.

"...And now we will summon the heartless to feast upon our souls!" The black-robed machine announced.

"Not on my watch!" Brandishing his keyblade, Sora struck his blade through the back of the machine, then used slapshot on the head of the adjacent machine. However, the heartless already began to surface from the depths of darkness to devour the machines.

"M101-64932! I'm coming!" The small machine ran towards his companion; a medium biped machine that towered over him. "Let me get you out of here!"

"Why the hell did you come back?! Get away from me!" She shot back at him.

"No, I'm not leaving you again, besides, that machine will save us!"

Sora raised his keyblade. ' _Alright, I'm back at full MP, I can finish these guys off no problem.'_  "Magnera!"

_1 function initiateAttack() {_

_2 Command = Magnera (level 15 variation)_

_3 Target = Heartless ("keyblade", "purple", "force", "attraction,")_

_4 "Magnera" .start(); }_

A spherical orb formed above Sora, drawing all the nearby heartless into a magnetic field. "Thundaga!"

_1 function initiateAttack() {_

_2 Command = Thundaga (level 25 variation)_

_3 Target = heartless_small biped machine ("keyblade", "yellow", "element", "Thunder,")_

_4 "Thundaga" .start(); }_

The ferocious lightning from thundaga shredded through the heartless, reducing them to a cluster of hearts. With the threat gone, Sora approached the reunited machines. "See, what'd I tell you? You can count on me to save a friend!"

"I never wanted to be saved," The medium machine said. "I wanted to become a heartless!"

"You  _what_?! Why would you ever say that?!"

"The heartless don't experience any pain or suffering...and I'm sick of feeling this pain, I'm sick of being scared and alone because you always leave me to go off somewhere by yourself!"

The small machine squeezed the medium machine's giant hands. "But I'm here now and I will never leave your side and if you ever left me, then there would be no point in me living anymore!"

She snatched her hand back. "That's what you always say. I only joined this stupid religion because I wanted to be with you and all you do is lie and run away from me because you're a coward! At least when I become a heartless, I can forget all about you and this cruel world!"

"But you'll lose yourself! That's what happens when you become a heartless!"

"None of that matters to me because I don't matter to you." In an instant, she ripped open a hole in her chest, then crushed her machine core, becoming nothing more than a lifeless metal body. It didn't take long for the darkness to take refuge in her place, the hulk of metal was draped in a inky black color, clustering together like a coil of snakes until spindle appendages and an amorphous body with a pair of yellow eyes crawled out of the blackness. A thick plate of metal emerged from its body, encasing its arms and legs in armor and giving form to a formless body.

Its arms reached for the small machine, but Sora acted quickly and intercepted the attack with his keyblade.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" The small machine yelled, he tried pulling Sora's arm back, but he lacked the strength and fell down. "Don't hurt her!"

"But she's a heartless now and she'll hurt you!"

"I don't care! She's the only one important to me, it's my fault for leaving her alone all these years! I rather spend eternity in the darkness with her than live with myself knowing she won't be here with me!"

"...No...I..." _'What can I say? I have to say something, I have to do something, but I don't know anymore. Just do something, do anything!'_

" _Of course, if I can't save one person, then what good would a hero like me be?"_

Sora grabbed the small machine's arm with his free hand and knocked the heartless back with his keyblade. He bolted down towards the back door entrance, pushing the limits of his engine, then destroyed the door's control panel, locking the heartless inside.

"Why the hell did you do that?! You can't make my own decisions for me!" The small machine exploded.

"Look, I don't know if I did the right thing, but it was the only thing I could think to do...and I had to do something to save you because becoming a heartless just isn't an option!"

"I...I hate you! You took away my only chance to be with her!" The machine shoved Sora down on the ground. "Don't you get it?! She's dead and it's all my fault because I kept leaving her! Her heartless is the only thing that's left of her and now you're forcing me to leave her again! I hate you! You're the worst!"

"That heartless isn't her! Even if she's gone, your friend will always be in your heart and she'd want you to be stronger for her!"

"What the hell are you talking about?! You don't know her and you'll never know her! She's DEAD, she isn't in my heart! I don't even have a heart!"

"Anyone can have a heart, the fact that you feel anything means you have one!"

"SHUT UP! Shut up, shut up, shut up! SHUT UP ABOUT MY HEART! Having a heart doesn't mean anything! You're just saying made up BULLSHIT that's not real when I all I want is to be with her! And you're not going to stop me!" The small machine disappeared into the shadows.

"Argh! Why does nothing ever make any sense here! Why does everyone have to be so complicated?! I don't get anything..." He slammed his fist on the ground, snapping the arm off. "Ah, come on...I can't stay here...I have to find 2B, 9S and Pascal!" Burying his feelings away for the sake of rescuing his friends, Sora took off into further into the cascading darkness until he found himself running down a raised platform dimly lit by factory lights.

The machine assembly line in the back made a loud humming noise, drowning out any small noises and a long line of exhaust pipes poured out thick steam, limiting his already poor vision. It was almost too easy for a heartless ambush to happen, so he preemptively readied his keyblade, waiting for the moment to strike.

*click-clack-click-clack

*click-clack-click

' _Something's coming.'_ Taking a shot in the dark, Sora threw himself into the shadows only for someone to grab his sword by the blade before it could make contact.

"Sora? Is that you?"

' _I know that voice.'_ He raised his head and even through the eyes of the machine, he still clearly recognized 2B's face. "...yeah, it's me 2B, guess my keyblade gave it away."

She set him down, then smiled at him. "You're still the same, Sora."

Two other machines emerged from the shadows beside 2B; Pascal and a medium biped machine that waved its arm gun at Sora. "Good to see you're still in one piece Sora! There are so many heartless here that we haven't been able to make any progress."

"Yes, greetings Sora. The machines are obsessed with the 'darkness' and they're intent on turning us into heartless," Pascal said. "We were actually in the middle of running away from a particularly terrifying heartless until we—" Without warning, a shadowy hand snatched Pascal, holding the pacifist machine high up in the air.

' _Guess that heartless hasn't given up yet._ ' Sora raised his keyblade, but 2B was much faster than him, slicing the arm in half with Virtuous Treaty, then using the 'gravity' pod program to quarantine the heartless crawling over Pascal's body.

"Oh gosh...that was awful..." Pascal said, re calibrating himself.

The heartless retaliated by reforming back into their smaller selves, deciding that overwhelming them by sheer number would be their way to victory. Sora prepared to fight back, but 2B held her arm out in front of him. "Don't waste your time trying to fight them, we're getting the hell out of this factory," She said. "Pod A130: Bomb, charge level 3!"

A volley of explosives engulfed the platform they were on, making the surrounding area collapse in on itself, the four of them rushed out of there before they were taken out along with the heartless and made their escape on the conveyor belt.

"Sora, you take it from here and defeat the heartless, I'm going to break into the factory's system and get everyone outta here," 9S said.

"Easier said than done in that weak body," 2B said.

"Hey, I've been holding up pretty well!"

"Well I've sent the coordinates of your current location to the Bunker so you should be able to take control of another machine body here just in case your current one gets destroyed," 9S said. "Okay guys, don't do anything reckless, we'll meet up later!"

"Over and out," 2B said.

Sora nodded. "Right, let's do it!"

—

"Oh, Commander White, you came sooner than expected."

"We can't afford to wait any longer," Commander White walked into the laboratory, the bleach white room made the Neoshadow heartless they captured stood out against its surroundings. She turned her attention back to the android, waiting for her response. "So, tell me, what are its weaknesses? I'm confident we can exploit them to its fullest potential."

"...About that. The results were...inconclusive. We used just about every method we could think of to try and destroy it, but no matter what we did or how many times we 'killed' it, the heartless would always come back in some form or another. There's something about the properties of the human's sword that is specifically designed to combat the heartless."

"Then we need to replicate the human's sword and mass produce a weapon designed to combat them, and we need to do it now. Every moment we stand idle, we lose more androids!"

"We understand Commander, but the heartless are more like foreign invaders than any machine, it may be impossible for anyone but the human to kill them."

"So we go into uncharted territory and find a way to permanently kill the heartless! Relying on a  _human_  to save us just isn't an option, what good would we be as androids if we can't even do the one thing we were built for..." A sigh escaped her lips as she attempted to collect herself to better for the role of their commander. "...I'll be back with the human and we'll get started on replicating his weapon. I know we can win this if we don't lose faith, we always find a way to counteract the machines and we can do the same for the heartless."

"Yes Commander..."

She went back down the hall to the mission control center, expecting to find the human waiting for her as she requested, instead she was met with the sorry faces of androids.

"...Where's Sora?"

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Void**

* * *

"So are you androids?"

Kairi shook her head. "No we're both humans, if that makes you feel any better."

"And technically I'm a replica," Naminé said.

"More...humans?"

"What do you mean 'more humans', are there humans from the world you come from?" Kairi asked.

"Uh-huh, but they're all on the moon, except for the one on Earth."

"...tell me more about this human."

"I don't know much about him, but according to the other machines he has a weapon shaped like a key."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you didn't read every single one of Sora's line in a machine voice, then you're doing it wrong smh


	16. Working Tog[e]ther

"Goddamnit! I didn't even get drunk, so why is my head still killing me?! Worthless shitty alcohol can't even do its job!" A2 threw the empty bottle of liquor as hard as she could, hitting an unsuspecting machine in the distance.

' _I should've taken those E-drugs from those androids while I had the chance, now I'm just pissed off.'_ She laid her head back when a horrifying realization dawned upon her. "...I was supposed to drink that with Devola, yeah whatever...she'll get over it like she always does."

"..."

"Shit, Devola  _never_  gets over anything, guess I better go make it up to her or it'll bother the hell out of me." Forcing herself to stand up, she dragged her feet through the sand. The granular particles always had a way of finding itself in some open crevice of her body, usually her fuel filter did the work of making it sure it didn't clog up her circuits or anything, but she had the creeping suspicion she'd eventually have to get that replaced too because she could  _definitely_  feel herself sinking downwards.  _'What is it this time?'_  Another horrifying realization dawned upon her when she saw a giant sinkhole develop at the base of the sand dune and she was on her way to falling into it.

She tried to power her way out of the sinkhole like she did for most dire situations, but the sand was slippery and ended up making her sink faster.  _'Of course this happens the one time I don't want to die.'_ Fortunately for her the sand stopped sinking because a much bigger threat had taken its place in the form of a heartless and she couldn't decide which was worse at this point. The heartless itself possessed a giant centipede head and a segmented body composed of pots with spider legs sticking out it一nothing A2 had ever seen before, but she'd gotten used to that by now.

_'If that thing is a heartless, then I don't stand a chance against it so I'll just have to run away for now.'_ The heartless was surprisingly fast for its large size, catching A2 off guard as she tried to run away only to run right into it. "Damn it!" Drawing her sword, she got into a fighting stance. "Since you want a fight so damn bad, then I'll give you one!"

* * *

**DESTINY ISLANDS**

A wave of relief washed over Kairi, flooding her heart. She fell down to her knees, her vision blurry from the tears welling up in her eyes. "...he's okay." She murmured. "He's really okay."

Naminé gave Kairi a sympathetic pat on the back. "He'll be back home again in no time Kairi."

"That's right," Mickey said. "Gosh, this is great news, and it's all thanks to our new pal!"

Kairi nodded, directing her attention to the machine who was staring off into space. "Definitely, we're able to find Sora because of you and you don't know how much that means to me. So thank you...uh...hold on, what's your name anyway?"

The machine thought for a moment, then came to the conclusion, "I do not have a name, but my classification is 'small stubby machine unit MX-13896413629821848352635816."

"Uhhh yeah...let's just call you Stubby for short."

"Agreed," Naminé and Mickey said.

In the midst of their celebration, a dark corridor materialized on the shores of the golden sand where Riku stepped out. His solemn expression subsidized when he saw the faces of friends and he calmly approached them, but before he could even open his mouth to greet them, Stubby broke away from Kairi to charge forward at him.

"DIE ANDROID SCUM, DIE! MEET YOUR END! AAAAHHHH!"

Riku planted his foot on the machine's head, preventing him from continuing his rampage. "...this is supposed to be your 'friend', Mickey?" He stared into Stubby with his piercing green eyes, which was all it took for the machine to slowly back off from him.

Mickey let out a nervous chuckle. "I think he's just a little on edge right now. Y'know, being in a new world and all."

"Riku, Riku, Rikuuuu!" Kairi ran over to Riku and embraced him in her arms. She spoke in a soft voice, whispering almost when she said, "We know where Sora is."

"Ah..." His keyblade, Braveheart, released from his grasp and dropped down on the sand. Riku went silent for a moment, not able to properly articulate his thoughts as he felt the spinning world around him stop on a dime and nothing else seemed to matter anymore except those words. "...so he's okay." He finally said.

Kairi cupped her hands over his, giving them a tight, reassuring squeeze. "He's okay...and soon he'll be home."

"So what world is he at?! I'm assuming the one this robot guy's from?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, he's from somewhere called 'Earth' and according to him, there's a human who wields a key shaped weapon."

"Yep, that's Sora alright, Earth must be pretty far away from all the known worlds we visited and...different too."

"I'm thinking it's a post-apocalyptic, technology-driven world where androids and machines are at constant war with each other," Naminé said. "And I'm going out on a limb here, but aliens were definitely involved somehow."

"Wait- really?"

"She's been saying that stuff for the past 20 minutes-" Kairi shook her head. "We just need to find out where 'Earth' is and then we'll be able to find Sora!"

"That's easier said than done. Especially since I found Stubby in the Dark Realm," Mickey said.

"Oh no...does that mean the world's already fallen to darkness?" Riku asked.

"I don't think so, but we should head to Master Yen Sid and let the others know we've found out where Sora is."

"Then let's head out on the gummiship right now."

Before they departed, Kairi extended her hand to Stubby. "You're a friend of ours, so we're going to help out each other the best we can!"

"A...friend? We...are friends?"

"Of course, you helped us out big time, Stubby."

"O- Ok." He extended his arm and Kairi shook it. "Can I still kill the white haired guy?"

**MYSTERIOUS TOWER**

A wrinkled hand combed through a flowing gray beard. Yen Sid's eyes remained focused on the stubby machine marching around in his study vowing to destroy any android that dare challenge it. His eyebrows furrowed. "This is a rather peculiar case...but I do believe he is from a world far outside the realms of our own."

"Aaand that it's a post-apocalyptic world ruled by technology?" Naminé said.

"Perhaps so, but based on this individual's rather violent reaction towards 'androids' it's safe to assume that Sora may be in grave danger on Earth."

"...You're right, they probably think Sora is an android," Riku said. "So does that mean you think Earth hasn't fallen into darkness?"

"No, I don't believe that is the case, I sense no such darkness from this machine nor is there any indication of the heartless' corruption of this individual. It may even be reasonable to assume that the most direct passage from our world to Earth is through the darkness itself, otherwise searching for Earth in space would be too extensive of a process and may very well end up fruitless."

"A world linked through the darkness, huh...the Realm of Darkness won't be easy to navigate, but it's still our best shot, even if it's a shot in the dark."

"一Then allow us to help."

The door behind them opened and Aqua, Terra and Ventus walked in. "Master Yen Sid," Aqua bowed down in his presence. "We heard about a chance to find Sora again and came right away! Please allow us to help anyway we-"

"AAHAH! ANDROIDS! PREPARE TO DIE!"

Naminé held Stubby back. "It's okay, they're humans like us!" She smiled apologetically to the wayfinder trio. "Sorry, he gets like this around new people."

"Why...why so many humans now?!" Stubby screeched.

"Damn that robot's loud," Terra said.

"I'm a machine you cretin!"

Aqua chuckled at his expense which damaged his ego more than he cared to admit. "That thing is supposed to be our lead to Sora...great." He grumbled.

"According to him, Sora's in a world called 'Earth' and we've never been to a world like that before," Riku said.

"Earth? That is a new world, Ven what do you..." Terra trailed off when he realized Ventus was no longer by his side, but rather drawn to the machine.

"Man, this little guy's so cool," Ventus said, petting the machine's head. "He's like a robot from that one world we visited...San Fransokyo, right? Whatever world Sora's at can't be so bad."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Naminé said under breath.

Without warning, the back door swung open and the rest of Sora's friends burst inside. Lea opted for a more casual greeting, waving his hand to everyone and cracking his signature smirk. "Hey! Sorry we're late, we took the ol' gummiship since and man you wouldn't believe how many space heartless we ran into on our way here!"

"Getting from place to place was so much easier when we could use dark corridors," Roxas said.

"And the ship almost crashed  _twice_ , next time I'm flying," Donald said.

"But er, Donald, weren't you the one who flew the ship the whole time," Goofy said.

"Aw shaddup!"

"-Oh, hey fellas!" Mickey called out. "Good to see you guys finally made it!"

"King Mickey! You've been away from the castle too long," Donald said.

"Yeah, it's been real lonely without ya."

"I'll be back in no time soon as we find where Sora is!"

"That's right!" Donald padded up the Master Yen Sid's desk, then saluted to him. "Master Yen Sid! We're ready to help find Sora any way we can!"

Goofy followed suit. "Yup, Donald and Goofy reportin' in for duty! Boy, I sure do miss Sora, I'm glad we got ourselves one of them, er, leads."

"Yeah we wanna help too!" Roxas said. "Knowing Sora, he's probably way over his head!"

"And lonely without all his friends..." Xion said.

"It's not like we can all go," Terra said. "Some of us will have to stay behind and protect the worlds from darkness."

"That's why me, Kairi and Mickey will be enough to save Sora," Riku said. "The rest of you guys can standby in case we need more backup."

"No way, we wanna be there to find Sora too!" Donald argued. "I don't wanna wait any longer just to see his stupid face!"

"Uh huh, me and Donald have always been in Sora's messes whether he wants us to or not and we want to be there for Sora all the way!"

"If they get to go, then I want to be there for Sora too," Roxas said.

"I hear you guys, really, and it's nothing personal, it's just if we go into too big of a group, then it'll be too obvious that we're not from their world and we'll draw too much attention to ourselves. I'm not sure how Earth is, but I don't want to take any chances."

"Why don't we just ask the robot, I'm sure he knows Earth inside out being a native and all," Lea said.

"Yeah, that'd be really important information to know before we go any deeper. Go ahead Stubby, whenever you're ready."

"Earth is...scary. We're in constant war with androids, but I heard the machines are planning a massive counterattack against them using the heartless to destroy them...so that's good."

"See, what'd I tell you guys," Naminé said.

"Oh my gosh, this is terrible, we... we have to leave right now! We can't just keep standing here!" Kairi said, raising her voice.

"Kairi's right, let's get some gear to protect ourselves from the darkness, then head out as soon as possible. If their world is on the brink of destruction, we need to save Sora before he gets caught up in it." Riku said.

"So let me at least help you navigate, I know all the ins and outs of the Realm of Darkness, and I can help you find this world you're looking for," Aqua said.

"But Aqua, you've already been in the darkness for so long," Mickey said.

"I know...and it's okay, I'll go back if it means saving Sora. My heart won't rest until he's safe at home."

Yen Sid folded his hands on his desk and the room went silent in anticipation for his final say on the matter. "Indeed, this is an urgent matter requiring a level of tact that is only possible with a small team. Mickey, Riku, Kairi and Aqua will depart to the Realm of Darkness after receiving the proper attire and locate Sora in the world known as 'Earth'."

**REALM OF DARKNESS**

**-Dark Margin-**

' _This place gives me the creeps, I don't know how are Riku and King Mickey able to stand the darkness.'_ Kairi's eyes drew over to Aqua who was walking beside her. ' _And Aqua was stuck in here for years, I can't imagine what she must have gone through being trapped here for so long.'_  She curled her fingers into a fist. _'Come on Kairi, if they can do it, so can you, you have to be strong for Sora!'_

"Where are we going?" Stubby asked.

"How many times do you have to ask that question?!" Riku snapped. "We're going back to Earth!"

"Then why do I have to wear this stupid coat?"

"Again, it's to protect you from the darkness."

"What is the darkness?"

"Please tell me this robot has a mute button!"

"Hey, it's not like you to lose your cool Riku," Kairi said. "Stubby  _is_  the only reason why we've been able to get this far."

"I know, I just...want to find Sora."

"Don't worry Riku, we're on our way to finding Sora, I can just feel it! Oh-" Mickey paused to run out to the shoreline of a black ocean extending as far as the light shone. "This is the spot where I found Stubby alright!"

"I know this place, it's where me and Sora ended up after our fight with Xemnas," Riku said.

"Really? So this is where you guys were... that means the other side is Destiny Islands," Kairi said. "Stubby, is this place jogging any..." But Stubby already left her side to go splashing around in the shallow water, she shook her head, then looked back to Aqua who was in deep thought.

"This is the Dark Margin, it's the farthest reaches of the Realm of Darkness ...and it's just how I remembered it," Aqua said in a low voice, she stepped further into the water, pacing around. "So how was he able to enter our world?"

"Maybe Stubby came from another part of the Realm of Darkness," Riku said.

"But here is the most logical place I would think, like Kairi said this is the pathway between the world of light and darkness."

"Oh yeah, sure...that's what I said...but I mean, Stubby's really the only one who knows where he came from," Kairi said.

"Where'd the little guy go anyways?" Mickey asked.

It dawned upon them that Stubby had disappeared without a trace. Kairi rushed into the water where she'd last seen the machine, worried they'd lost their last hope of finding Sora, but instead of finding Stubby, she found a dark corridor hiding behind fragments of a rock formation. "Hey guys, I think I found something," She said.

Riku, Mickey and Aqua went over to Kairi. "Yep, that looks like a passageway," Riku said. "Then this is it...on the other side is Earth."

"Riku, me and Aqua should stay behind to make sure nothing happens to this corridor and so no more heartless can get through to their world," Mickey said. "If you need anything just call us on the gummiphone and we'll be there right away."

Aqua nodded. "Good luck you two."

"Don't worry, we'll bring Sora back home safely!" Kairi said. "I mean, how bad can Earth be?"

—

"Fuck, of course my attacks aren't doing anything! This is just a waste of time!" A2 cut her losses and went back to her previous plan of getting the hell out of there so she installed a few moving speed boost plug-in chips and did exactly that. With her increase in speed, she was able to outrun the pot centipede and a few well executed maneuvers later, she lost her pursuer in the rolling sand dunes. ' _I knew I still had it in me! That bastard can eat my dust!'_

"DIE ANDROID SCUM, DIE! MEET YOUR END! AAAAHHHH!"

A2 slowed down to a stop. ' _That was a machine.'_  She swerved her head around, scanning the area until she found a small stubby machine charging towards her with its arms flailed out.

' _Finally a normal enemy.'_  Drawing her serrated Type-3 sword, A2 sliced through the machine with ease. "...what's this thing it's wearing?" She pulled an oversized black coat off the machine body. "Looks pretty nice, I can probably trade this in for some alcohol."

On a whim, A2 decided to try the black coat on. "Durable material too, what's a machine doing with this coat? Whatever, it's mine now." Before A2 could continue her treacherous journey out of the desert, her sensors picked up another threat on the horizon so she summoned her sword and clashed blades with someone she didn't recognize. ' _He looks like he's with YoRHa, but there's something off about him. An S-type rarely has the spine for direct confrontation.'_

"Who are you?!" She demanded, pushing back.

He didn't answer which pissed her off even more. "Fine, don't answer, but you're as good as dead."

"I wouldn't speak so soon."

She smirked. "Then let's have some fun!"

"—No, Riku!"

' _Riku? He can't be YoRHa with a name like that, so is he a regular android or is he...'_

"Stay back Kairi, this one's dangerous." He pointed his keyblade at Stubby's corpse, causing Kairi to stop dead in her tracks and cusp her hands over her mouth in shock.

Her reaction almost made A2 burst out in laughter at the sheer absurdity for having any capacity of attachment to a machine, but she maintained her stoic demeanor, using her words to express her frustrations instead. "...God, I just can't catch a break! Aw, you're sad over a stupid murder bot, well your 'friend' tried to kill me asshole."

"Don't talk to Kairi like that!" Riku yelled.

"Ugh, you don't get it, Stubby was the only reason why we were able to get so close to finding Sora," Kairi said. "And now he's gone..."

"So it only had value to you because it offered you a service, yeah, what a human thing to say."

"Stubby's not an it, he was our friend  _first_  and had a heart just like anyone else! We're here now because of him!"

"Whatever. You're looking for Sora, right? You missed him by a long shot, he's up on the moon."

Riku and Kairi exchanged confused glances.

"What do you mean he's up on the moon?!"

"Exactly what I said? I bet you came all the way down from the moon looking for him, well you can head right on back because that's where the kid is."

"...Riku," Kairi tugged on his arm and he lowered his head. "In this world, the rest of the humans are on the moon, let's just play along and see if she'll help us."

"She doesn't seem like the helping type, we might have better luck with someone else."

"But she does know Sora, so she might be our best bet for now...even though I  _really_  don't like her."

They turned back to A2 who was already leaving them. Kairi scrambled over to her and grabbed her arm, an action she immediately regretted because A2 whipped her head back to Kairi so fast that it scared the shit out of her and she flinched like a scared puppy. A2 took full advantage of the fact that Kairi was intimidated by her and got right in her face. "I already told you where Sora is, stop following me."

Kairi's head bobbed downwards, too afraid to even look the android in the eye. "L-Look, we're not from the moon...and neither is Sora. We're...we're from somewhere completely different on Earth, so wherever Sora is right now, he's not supposed to be there and we need your help getting him back. Please, we've been searching for him for so long and I... _we_  just want to see him again!"

"What the hell are you talking about? So what, there are humans on Earth now?! That doesn't make any fucking sense...you're not pursuer androids, are you? I'll murder you!"

"You don't have to believe me, but believe that we want to find Sora and...and a part of me believes you want to find Sora too!"

"You don't even know me! I only guessed you were his friends because of those stupid clothes you're wearing! I'm not going to help you find Sora and you're not going to take him away from his home so he can be miserable on this planet!"

"His home is with us!" Riku said, standing by Kairi's side. "Sora is our best friend, and as long as we're all together, he won't be miserable. If you don't want to help us then fine, but you're  _not_  going to stop us from finding Sora!"

"...Just get the hell out of my face." A2 began walking away from Riku and Kairi, but she wasn't able to get very far from them when the sand started shifting under her feet. Before she could make any sudden movements, the pot centipede heartless burst from out of the ground and seized A2 in its giant mandibles.

The heartless held a tight grasp on A2's body so she couldn't pull her arms out to try stabbing its head which pretty much eliminated her only mode of combat. "Daaaamn it, why do these things always happen to me?!" It seemed like she was going to be buried in the sand where the heartless would feed upon her remains, but its body was suddenly frozen solid.

She once again tried to break free of its mandible, luckily she was able to escape its clutches and tumble back down on the sand.  _'Whatever the hell just happened, it saved me, better not waste this opportunity.'_ A2 readied her sword, intent on cutting it up into a fraction of its size only for that pleasure to be taken away from her when it was consumed by a black flame that returned the heartless to the depth of darkness from whence it came.

When the flames subsided, all that remained were Riku and Kairi with their keyblades held tightly in their hands. At that moment, the pieces fell together in A2's head so she swallowed her pride and approached them. "Damn it...just follow me okay. I'll help you find Sora since you wanna see him so bad."

"Wha-really?! You'll help us find Sora?!" Kairi exclaimed. "What's with the change of heart all of a sudden?"

"It doesn't matter, I'm not teaming up with her," Riku said.

"Uh huh... do you want to find Sora or not?"

"Of course, but we don't need you to find him!"

"That's not how it works here on Earth. As I see it, you're two stupid humans who want to bring Sora back to Earth so he can suffer and get wrapped up in this war again just because you 'know him'. Whether you are who you say you are or you're just impostors, I want to be there with him no matter what happens."

"'Uh, excuse me, but what's your relationship with Sora?" Kairi asked.

A2 shot daggers in Kairi's direction. "My  _what_?"

She stared at the ground again to avoid A2's death stare. "You ...um...you just seem to care a lot about Sora...wh-which isn't a bad thing! You're just really pretty .. and well-proportioned, I kind of feel out of my league."

' _What the hell is she talking about?'_ "Sora's my friend so I kind of have to give a few shits about him."

"Sora can make friends with just about anyone," Riku said, he crossed his arms, coming to a conclusion. "Fine, we'll work together in order to find Sora...my name is Riku by the way."

"And I'm Kairi!"

"A2."

"A2, huh?" Riku locked his eyes directly onto A2's. "But let's make one thing clear A2, I'm not afraid of you and I'll cut you down if it means protecting Sora."

"So be it, I've never killed a human before." She turned around. "The fastest way to get to the moon is to let command know you're human and they'll be lining up to send you back. We just need to get a pod and then I can broadcast you guys to the Bunker...and I think I know where I can find one."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Hollowness**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, rip to Stubby, here lies his stubbiness :,(


	17. Bipola[R] Nightmare

"Hold on, before we go...I want to do something for Stubby, it's not right leaving him out in the open," Kairi said.

"Don't bother, I already extracted all of the materials out of it, it's a piece of junk now," A2 said.

"Stubby's not a piece of junk!"

"Whatever."

"Ugh, Riku, come and help me pick up the other half!"

"Sure."

Kairi held Stubby's head in her arms while Riku held what was left of his body. "Hey Riku, maybe we can find someone to fix him, he is just a machine after all!"

"It's not a good idea to carry machine corpses around. It's better you leave that thing where you found it," A2 said.

"Says the murderer, afraid he's gonna haunt you in your sleep or something," She teased.

"Shut the hell up, just take the damn thing since you want it so bad."

"Hmph, you know what A2, I don't appreciate you swearing so much! It's so unflattering and immature!"

"Don't care."

"Well you should, I bet you can't even go a whole day without saying a curse word."

A2 stopped walking. "...is that a challenge?"

"Uh...yeah, it sure is a challenge!"

"Fine, once I win you're going to stop talking to me indefinitely."

"And if I win you have to be nicer to me and Riku because you're kind of a big jerk!"

"That's not happening...in fact I'd stop talking now if I were you."

"Let's see how well this turns out," Riku said.

There wasn't much conversation between the three of them, A2 wanted as little communication as possible with her new human companions so she wouldn't accidentally slip out a curse word and Riku and Kairi were in the same boat, not exactly finding her great company to be around either way.

"Riku...this world's really scary, how do you think Sora managed to survive being here for so long?" Kairi asked.

He shrugged, not sure of the answer himself. "Guess he had to toughen himself up, man, short fuse here must of put him through hell and back."

"But I hope Sora's not too different... Oh my gosh, what if Sora' turned into some edgy tough guy from being here?!"

He chuckled. "Is that even possible for him? I can't even imagine Sora with slicked back hair and cussing every other sentence."

"Yeah, no thanks, I just want the bright and cheerful Sora!"

"Well he's up on the moon apparently, wonder how that's for him." Riku rubbed the back of his head. "Sora's always getting into trouble, huh."

' _Are all humans this talkative? It's like they never shut up.'_  A2 stopped, a smirk pursing her lips."...Finally." She clocked her head back to Riku and Kairi. "Heads up, these guys are mine."

A2 propelled herself high in the air, brandishing her type-3 sword, the saw-toothed blade ripped through a flying machine hovering in the air. It was that harsh, raucous noise that was music to her ears as the blade tore through tangles of wire and endo-skeleton. "I can handle the machines, you guys just worry about the heartless," She said, landing back down on the sand.

' _Androids and machines both lost friends in the war from fighting each other, so it's not like we have any place to judge A2 for her actions, but it makes me wonder why they're fighting in the first place.'_ Kairi looked over to Riku who seemed to be coming to the same conclusion as she was. "A2..." She trailed off. ' _Wait, it's probably not a good idea to ask a question that would draw attention to the fact that we're not from here.'_

"What?"

"Oh, uh, nothing, but I do have a sort of weird question to ask."

A2 waved her off. "I'm not interested."

"...okay."

They were nearing the ends of the desert and arrived at the City Ruins, as promised, A2 eliminated any machine that fell into her radar while Riku and Kairi watched her reduce massive, complex machinery into mere metal scraps. Riku was almost impressed by her prowess meanwhile Kairi was firmly in the terrified camp, not wanting to be on the receiving end of A2's blade.

"Wow look at her...she's good at the whole killing machine thing... even if it is messed up," Kairi hugged Stubby's head. "I won't have to worry about you Stubby, 'cause I'm gonna keep you far away from A2!"

"But even someone like her has weaknesses," Riku said. ' _And I'm determined to find out what it is.'_

A2 led Riku and Kairi inside an empty building where she leaned back on the wall with her arms crossed. "I know humans aren't built like androids so we'll take a break here for a while."

"That's nice and all, but we can keep going," Riku said.

"Once we leave, we're  _not_  stopping so go eat and take a sh-"

"Take a  _what_ , A2?" Kairi asked.

"...I mean...go do whatever human thing you need to do right now or starve."

"Now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry."

Riku hung his head in defeat. "...I'll go catch something. You coming Kairi?"

"Right behind you." They left Stubby on the ground, then departed into the City Ruins.

Soon the decayed walls of the empty building glowed a hazy orange from the fire, and the aroma of blackened wild caught fish filled the air. For A2, it was an almost nostalgic trip down her memory processor as she recalled the first day she met Sora, and then subsequent bitter sweetness from knowing he was gone and she was stuck with his 'friends'. ' _Wonder if Sora's puking his guts out right now because he ate raw fish, do they even have fish on the moon?'_

"...Hey A2," Kairi said.

A2 turned her head over to Kairi's general direction.

"So uh, weird question, but has Sora ever...um... talked about me... like at all?"

"He talks about his friends every once in a while."

"Oh, so I'm just one of his friends..."

"What's with that pitiful look for?"

Her face was turning red which sparked A2's interest.

"Nothing...Sora's just, ugh, why am I telling you any of this?! You probably don't even know what I'm talking about."

"It sounds to me like you want to k*** Sora right now."

"WH-WHAT?! Why would you even say something like that?!"

"Because I know  _that_  look when I see it. The kid's not bad since I've whipped him into shape, he can handle his sword pretty well and put up a decent fight."

"I get it now, you only like Sora because you can bully him around."

"I would've killed him a long time ago if that were the case, he...he makes me feel like I'm human, that's what I like about him." She shook her head, dismissing the idea. "How pathetic am I to even say things like that."

"Hey don't sweat it, Sora just has that effect on people, but I guess admitting that stuff would just ruin your image."

"You're a pain in the ..." She clenched her teeth and balled her hands into a fist as if it physically pained her to tone her language down. "...neck."

Kairi giggled to herself. "About ready to admit defeat?"

"About ready to shut the ...heck ... up...oh god, I'm going to remove my OS chip if I have to keep talking to you."

"Can we get going now," Riku said. "We've wasted enough time sitting around here."

"So be it, but we're not making any more stops."

"Fine by me."

"Fine."

A2 and Riku both stood up, glaring at each other.

"-Uh wait, I'm not exactly fine with any of this," Kairi said, but her words fell on deaf ears as the two were already getting ready to leave the abandoned building.

"Come on get up, we have a lot of ground to cover," A2 said to Kairi.

"I'm coming...hey, w-wait a second," Kairi bent down on the ground, frantically searching around the dimly lit abandoned building. "Oh no!"

Riku walked up to her. "What's wrong Kairi?"

"Stubby's gone Riku! Remember we left him right here, but he's gone...it's like he vanished."

"But that's impossible...unless, A2, did you get rid of him?!"

"Do you know how stupid you sound right now?"

"You were the one who  _killed_  him, so why wouldn't it be you!"

"Because it's worthless junk."

"Shut up!" Kairi yelled. "You keep treating machines like they're beneath you, but what's so different between androids and machines?! What does it matter if he doesn't look human,  _anyone_  can have a heart human or not, I'm starting to think the only one without a heart here is you!"

"And you're the one without a brain." A2 quickly drew her sword and rushed over to Kairi. Riku instinctively stood in front of her, ready to defend her against the android, but A2 pushed him aside with enough force to make him fall on the ground, then struck her sword above Kairi's head. Kairi stood still, petrified from her near death experience, but that fear became horror when she saw Stubby's machine head fall to her feet.

"St...Stubby?" Just as Kairi reached down to touch his head, A2 pulled her away.

Darkness crawled into the empty crevice inside Stubby's head, turning the machine a pitch black color, arms grew from the head and a weak body with thin legs came next to support its frame.

"No..no nononono," Kairi's voice started cracking, on the cusp of tears, "What's happening to him?! What's happening to Stubby?!"

"It can't be helped," A2 said.

"No! Let me go! I have to save him!" She managed to break free of A2's grasp, but Riku's keyblade impaled Stubby faster than she could get to him. The darkness subsided from the machine, leaving unrecognizable remains of Stubby, Kairi scooped up the machine parts in her hand, shaking, "No...why did this have to happen..."

"Kairi...I'm so sorry, I didn't have a ch-" Riku's words were cut off as he winced in pain, he swiped his keyblade behind him to destroy another heartless only for several more to manifest in its place. "Damn, it looks like this place is filling up with heartless. A2, get Kairi out of here, I'll deal with these guys."

"But Riku-" Kairi was suddenly lifted up in the air into A2's arms and she carried her out of the building. Moments later, the building burned with a powerful black flame, blackening the blue sky. A2 set Kairi down and she sunk to her knees.

"...I'm so stupid..." She squeezed her hands together to stop her body from shaking. "All of this is my fault...I should've just listened to you..."

At her lowest point, all A2 could see in Kairi was the memory of herself when she lost everything to YoRHa. Scared and vulnerable, A2 almost forgotten that part of her, the humanity, she long buried it away in order to survive a world that was against her. But it was the world shattering stuff that knocked someone down to their lowest point where they experienced their greatest strength, and pretty much all A2 did was get knocked down to her lowest point over and over until she had no choice but to grow stronger. So A2 bent down to Kairi's level, not entirely sure what to say, but it had to be better than nothing, "You are stupid...but so was I. You can't afford to give up and cry like a weakling, there's too much on the line for that."

"I don't know if I can...I mean, I can barely wield a keyblade, I doubt I can even fight a machine...I've just been a burden to everyone."

"You're only a burden if you can't move, and I already told you that I'll take care of the machines."

Riku stepped out of the burning building with his keyblade out, it was hard to tell what he was thinking with the stoic expression on his face, but the tenseness of his body and the emptiness of his eyes told a complete narrative of his thoughts. He approached A2, almost smiling at her, but it looked more like a smirk, "Thanks for protecting Kairi, I have to admit, you're not so bad A2."

"Yeah...I almost forgot." Kairi faced A2, then bowed her head down in apology. "Sorry for yelling at you back there...I'm grateful that you saved me."

"It's an android's job to protect humans, but don't  _ever_  compare an android to a machine again," She said before turning her back to them. "Now let's go."

Eventually, A2 stopped just outside the Resistance camp. "This is where we'll find a pod, don't say anything and don't look at anyone." They went inside the camp and quickly became the center of attention.

"There goes Number 2 bringing in more strays," A resistance android remarked.

"At least the girl looks kind of cute~"

A2 snapped her head back to the android in question and gave him her signature death stare, then kept it moving until she approached Popola, who was in the middle of sharpening a spear outside of the infirmary.

"Hello A2! I see you already made new friends, that has to be a new record."

"They're not my friends and they're not important...hold on, where's the other one?"

"You mean Dev?" She shrugged. "She's in the back somewhere, but I wouldn't go bother her, she's pretty pissed off about something and wouldn't say why."

"I probably have an idea why," A2 uploaded emergency booze from her database. "Just give this to her and don't make a big deal out of it."

"Oh, ok. I'm sure she'll一"

"OOoOoH There Yooooou ARE 2A!" Devola stumbled past the weapon shop to reach A2, her hands fumbled around her coat before she held a tight grasp on A2's collar. "You're a BITCH! You kno-w thAT?! B-I-C-T-H! I don't ever wanna see yr hot ass fucking face again!"

"Look, sorry for messing up our drinking plans, but I actually don't hate being around you...so maybe we can try the whole getting wasted thing again sometime."

"Wowow! Devola chuckled. "Ur so fuckn' sappy!"

A2 pushed Devola off of her, she was visibly embarrassed, which made Devola laugh even harder. "Heheh, I'm jus kiddin' 2A, 'course i wanna get drunk with you! Let's go to toooown! but if you ever steal my booze again...heh heh...I WILL SLIT YOUR THROAT!"

"Alright Dev, I think that's enough," Popola grabbed her sister's arms, then pulled her away to their weapon shop where she could rest while the booze filtered out of her system.

"—A2, sorry about that," Popola said, returning to them. "But I think she'll be better now since you talked to her...is that all you wanted or was there something else?"

"Yeah I need a pod."

"Sorry, can't help you there, in case you haven't noticed, most of us aren't YoRHa... I mean, I can't believe between two YoRHa androids neither of you have any pods."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your friend obviously, he's with YoRHa, isn't he?"

"Actually he's Ex-YoRHa," A2 said. "Like me."

"Really? He must be a new model, Type-S models are usually more boyish, you know."

"You sure you don't know where any pods are?"

But Popola ignored her to instead focus on Riku. "Huh, did they change the uniform too? I remember it being completely black, but I guess an Ex-YoRHa wouldn't care so much for the uniform. What's your name anyway?"

"13S," A2 spat out.

Riku gave A2 the classic what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about look and she returned it with the just-go-along-with-it look so he silently nodded his head.

"Is his voice box messed up, is that why you're speaking for him? Because I can fix it up right away," Popola said.

A2 stood in front of Riku. "Thanks for nothing Popola, but we'll be going now. I'll just go find 2B and use her pod."

"Seriously? I'm happy you're not doing things the A2 way anymore!"

"The...A2 way?"

"You know, if you ever needed anything you'd just kill an android or whatever and not think twice about it, guess Sora rubbed off on you a little~"

"Shut up or your sister's not gonna be the only one slitting throats."

"Can't break old habits I guess, good luck with your search, you should bring your friends back to the camp too sometime!"

The second they left the Resistance camp, Riku and Kairi both turned to A2, waiting for an explanation.

"13S,  _really_ ," Riku said.

A2 shrugged. "YoRHa androids don't have actual human names."

"But I'm not an android, neither is Kairi, what're you trying to play here A2?"

"No one else but me will know that you're human because this plan only works if we catch the Commander by surprise. Otherwise if word gets out she'll send pursuer androids to kill me and take you guys to the moon, so you better get used to being called 13S. Now let's go to the abandoned factory and find 2B."

—

2B's samurai blade sliced through the machines that got in the way of their escape. "Sora, now!" She commanded.

"You got it 2B! Fira!"

_1 function initiateAttack() {_

_2 Command = Fira (level 15 variation)_

_3 Target = small biped machine ("keyblade", "red", "element", "fire,")_

_4 "Fira" .start(); }_

The abundance of grimy oil leaking from the machine bodies turned a small fire into an all consuming monstrous flame that fed on the flammable machines for fuel. ' _That should keep the heartless at bay for now. Sora's machine body gets worse with every encounter.'_ "Sora, come on, let's pull back!"

"Right behind ya!"

The three of them flew up a case of metal stairs that extended to the highest levels of the factory. On their way to the top, 2B promptly destroyed any airborne machine attempting to impede their progress with a quick application of her pod missile launch until they could no longer hear a single cry of 'darkness' or 'heartless' reverberate across the hollow factories.

"Sora, how are you holding up?" 2B asked.

"I'm doing fine, what about y-"

"There's heartless straight ahead blocking the entrance, think you can clear them out?"

"Wha- really. Ah, I can't even see that far, I'm gonna have to go in closer!" Sora hastened his pace, slinging his keyblade behind his back. ' _That's weird, I still don't see anything and I'm almost near the ent-'_

All of a sudden, Sora felt something wrap around his body, but before he could figure out what was going on, his line of sight went completely dark and an error message flashed in the middle of a black screen.

' _Man, my body was destroyed, I have to get back in the system!'_

[HACKING SYSTEM] - BOOTING SYSTEM

AUTHENTICATION CODE: USER_UNKNOWN

[PLEASE CONFIRM AUTHORIZATION]

AUTHORIZATION KEY: SORA_KEYBLADE_WIELDER

ACCESS GRANTED

HACKING DEVICE ACTIVATION COMPLETE_

LOADING . . .

Given control of a small sphere type machine, Sora propelled the body forward as fast as he could make it go. Which wasn't anywhere close to the speed he desired, so he was rendered to floating along the factory floor until he reached 2B and Pascal. 2B managed to protect herself and Pascal from the heartless in Sora's absence, mostly by relying on pod programs, but the heartless were relentless, clawing at the battle android with the hopes of annihilating her.

Sora wasted no time in engaging with the heartless, he was afforded a greater range of mobility since the machine body was not bound by the laws of gravity and he easily cut in between 2B and the heartless. "2B, just focus on protecting Pascal, the heartless is mine!"

"Of course."

The heartless winded its arms back, flinging them at Sora and he slashed through the arms one after the other. ' _Wait a second, I've seen that heartless before!'_ It was the heartless of the machine that ended her life right before him, and it was a heartless he could never forget. Although in the time he had last laid his eyes upon the monster, it had changed considerably, now equipped with a knight's helmet with long, metal spikes projecting out of its body. It extracted one of the metal spikes from its body, then swung it like a sword at Sora.

Sora's keyblade clashed with the heartless' sword, the blades emitting a sharp cry when they made contact. Knowing he would be easily overpowered by the heartless, Sora charged his keyblade with a spell. "Blizzara!" He enunciated.

_1 function initiateAttack() {_

_2 Command = Blizzara (level 15 variation)_

_3 Target = Heartless ("keyblade", "blue", "element", "ice,")_

_4 "Blizzara" .start(); }_

Blizzara froze the heartless from the head down, giving Sora the perfect opportunity to strike the heartless straight through the chest, but its armor prevented Sora from making any substantial damage to the creature. ' _I have to find a vulnerable spot.'_ He searched through the machine's archives for a profile on the heartless and found the match to his inquiry was around the heartless' neck where there wasn't any armor to guard it. ' _Got it, so I'll go for the neck.'_

By the time Sora thought through his plan of attack, the heartless broke through the ice and was back on the rampage. It dual wielded two metal spikes from its back and hammered the spikes down on Sora's keyblade. ' _I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hold this up.'_

''—Pod, R010: Laser!" A powerful blast of energy disintegrated the heartless' head, and Sora took the opportunity to drive his keyblade inside the mesh of darkness spilling out, putting an end to  _their_  misery. All that remained were two machine cores, free from the clutches of darkness.

' _Finally its over, now their hearts will be put to rest.'_  "Oh, 2B thanks for the help, how'd you know where to aim?"

"I already figured out its weakness while you were catching up, I just needed you to destroy it." She walked over to him. "It's bothersome having to rely on a human."

"Yeah, I get that a lot from androids. Guess we should keep on going now, huh."

They progressed further into the factory, reaching an area with white lights that reflected off the heaps of machine parts lying around the facility. At the end was an elevator leading down to the lowest level of the factory, once they arrived at the ground level, they were greeted to a long, narrow hallway too dark to see what was ahead.

"This is like the final dungeon before the boss," Sora said.

"It most likely is based on the way it's set up," 2B said.

The narrow hallway widened itself into a full blown facility with a raised platform suspended above a pit of lava. However, the facility was void of any so-called boss or machine life form otherwise. 2B and Sora ventured in further while Pascal decided it was best to 'guard' the entrance, just in case an enemy were to show up.

"Looks pretty empty here to me," Sora said. "Maybe we should head back."

"No. Someone's here..."

"—Looks like I've finally found you." Of all the machines, of all the androids, it was Eve who showed himself to 2B and Sora, a face they hadn't seen in so long it nearly phased out of their memory. He was different from the last time they encountered him, now possessing poignant, yellow eyes and his tattoo covered most of his body. Even though the darkness had spread throughout him like a parasitic disease, he sustained off its presence without losing himself to oblivion, the darkness becoming a source of power to draw from.

"What do you want, Eve?!" Sora yelled.

"...to find my brother, what else is there?"

"We killed him. If you're looking for revenge, I'll be happy to give it to you," 2B said.

"Heh heh heh, brother's not dead, at least that's not what the heartless told me. Oh well, I was hoping you didn't know where brother was so I could KILL YOU!"

Sora went ahead and charged for Eve, not holding anything back, but just as his blade was inches away from— ERROR: NARRATION NOT FOUND.

[ERROR: LOST CONNECTION FROM TERMINAL]

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of** **Lifelessness**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, Ending A-B is coming to a close pretty soon and I was thinking of putting more sidequest stories in. Let me know of any side quests you want me to tackle for Ending C-E, besides Emil's memories, it doesn't have to be specific to Ending C either. Or if you don't want any sidequest stories I'll just stick to the main storyline, either way.


	18. Independent We[A]kling

Eve kicked Sora's machine body off the platform into the sea of molten steel. "One down," He said, grinning.

Pod 042: Alert: "Heartless" life form detected on enemy unit. There is insufficient data to produce a reliable strategy based on the unpredictable nature of such life forms. It is ill-advised for Unit 2B to engage in direct combat with the enemy until a reliable strategy is formally established.

"Yeah I know!" 2B maneuvered past one of Eve's attacks, then gathered distance between her and the deranged machine. "9S-"

Unit 9S: Yes 2B? I've been keeping an eye on you trying to figure out a possible solution, but it looks like you might have to retreat for now.

"I have an even better idea. What's the best way to destroy these suspension chain links?"

Unit 9S: I...don't like the sound of this, but those suspension chain links are made of carbon steel, so using your sword isn't a good idea. Fortunately they've been rusted over for a long time, so your best bet is using explosives. Just don't do anything reckless 2B.

"Got it. Pod, A130: Bo—" Appearing right in front of her, Eve grabbed 2B's head with his clawed hand then slammed her down on the platform. 2B retaliated by jabbing her heels into his chest, which was enough to push him off of her and she quickly followed up by shoving her sword into his torso.

Instead of dripping blood like 2B was expecting, a black substance seeped out of the stab wound. "Is that it? Don't you have any other tricks." Eve reached over to grab 2B's neck, but his hand phased through a decoy copy while 2B rolled out of harm's way and got back on her feet.

"Now, A130: Bomb charge level 3. Target: Suspension chain link." A barrage of explosives launched from the pod and rained down on one of the suspension chain links. Meanwhile, 2B summoned Virtuous Treaty to her hand and threw her sword at Eve's head, however, before the blade could strike him, he dispersed into a mass of energy, vanishing into thin air.

"That's the game he wants to play." She drew Virtuous Contact from her manipulator field in preparation for Eve's inevitable counterattack "Pod, remain stationary until the command is fully executed."

Pod 042: Acknowledged.

"I'LL RIP YOU TO SHREDS, ANDROID!"

Locating the direction of where Eve's voice was coming from, 2B found him riding on a tidal wave of heartless aimed straight for her. _'My sword is useless against the heartless, but I still have to try at least.'_

Unit 9S: 2B, I think it's a good idea to bail, we're no match against the heartless.

"I know what I'm doing, 9S." Raising both of her swords upright, she made a clean slice down the middle of the demon tide—an effectively useless attack against the heartless, though she didn't expect a different outcome in that regard, but it did force Eve to jump off the demon tide and confront 2B directly with his army heartless which was exactly where she wanted him.

2B remained in her position, deciding to fall back on a defensive approach, while Eve propelled himself at her. She blocked Eve's initial attack with her sword, but he flipped off the blade of her sword and managed to get a hit on 2B. He used his heartless to surround her body, rendering her immobile, then landed a direct hit on 2B's head that made her collapse on the ground where the heartless began feeding off her.

Unit 9S: 2B!

The darkness enveloping her body was a feeling 2B had already grown accustomed from her travels with Sora. The coldness snaking up her spine, the loss of all sensation, the total isolation as blackness closed in on her, but there was always a light within the bottomless darkness and hers came in the form of hearing the suspension chain link finally snap under the pressure of the explosives and the entire platform began shifting downwards into the molten steel.

With the clock ticking as 2B faced imminent death, she used her self destruct function to destroy the physical forms of the heartless clawing at her body, then dashed up the tilted platform where her pod was waiting for her. While she was carried away to safety, 2B watched the remaining heartless melt in the molten steel, yet despite her small victory, she had a sinking feeling that Eve was still alive, somewhere.

Unit 9S: Wow, even for you that was pretty insane, you alright 2B?

"I'm fine. Pod, status report."

Pod 042: No machine lifeforms detected in the immediate facility.

Her pod dropped her down near the entrance where Pascal ran up to her.

"Oh my goodness 2B, are you okay?!"

"Yes, but we're going to have to take the long way out of the factory."

—

A2, Riku and Kairi went up a case of metal stairs where the entrance to the factory waited for them.

"This is it," A2 said.

"Uh hey A2, I've been thinking about this for a while but... can I get a cool android name too?" Kairi asked.

"No."

"Wha- why? That's so not fair!"

"No one would mistake you for YoRHa so there's no point."

"YoRHa must be a specialized class of androids apart from the regular ones and I assume you guys are the ones who are built to fight machines," Riku said.

"Pretty much."

"So if you're Ex-YoRHa, why are you still fighting machines?"

"Machines don't care what you are, they'll kill you without hesitation."

"But all machines can't be the same, can they?" Kairi asked.

"There are exceptions, but it doesn't matter. Either way, they all have to die."

"For the humans, right? That's pretty messed up if you think about it."

"What's messed up is that you see androids and machines as equals to each other in any capacity. So many of us have died at the hands of machines so that the humans could return to Earth one day, that's why we fight. You would never show pity just because a few of the heartless were outliers when the world would be better off without  _any_  of them."

"Oh...I'm sorry, I haven't been thinking about things from your perspective and that's not fair to you."

"I don't care, I just don't want to hear you run on about machines again."

Arriving at the entrance, the factory door slid open and the three of them walked in where they were welcomed with the ghastly cries of machines chanting indiscernible words. "Sounds like trouble, we'll have to move in closer." A2 said, drawing her sword.

As they crept further into the facility, images of venturing through the same factory grounds with Sora flashed in A2's memory drive. Maybe it was because her internal clock was in desperate need of re-calibration, but it felt like forever since it was just the two of them, back when things were simple and all A2 had to worry about was decapitating the next machine to distract herself from the emptiness inside her. Now she had a purpose beyond merely surviving, there was someone other than herself to lose if she fucked up that weighed on her constantly, a trade off from living her old life.

"Look Riku, some of these machines are kind of dressed up like heartless," Kairi said.

"I noticed. The heartless must have been around in this world for a while, I can't imagine all the destruction they've already caused."

"—Accept your fate and become one with the darkness, android!" A machine emerged from out of the shadows, thinking it had the upper hand on A2, but the speed at which she sliced the machine in half proved otherwise.

A2 twirled her sword around in her hand. "Any more machines want to become my target practice?"

With their cover blown by A2, several machines of varying sizes and weaponry crawled out of their hiding spot to surround her. "Why don't you guys show me a good time!" But they were exceptionally weak, even by machine standards, and it only took a few seconds for them to be added to the pile of corpses filling up space in the factory. "That was boring," A2 said under breath.

However, A2 spoke too soon as the machine corpses were given a second chance to murder her by the heartless, combining themselves into a single unit composed of darkness and loose machine parts. "Way to kill the mood, huh," She said.

Kairi summoned her keyblade, wanting nothing more than to prove herself A2. Yet she couldn't even force her body to move, her fears still lurking behind her like a shadow, rattling inside her heart.

"Don't worry, I got this Kairi," Riku's keyblade slashed through the midsection of the heartless, then he made several more cuts until an amalgamation of hearts were released from their machine captivity.

' _I trained so I could be stronger than that, but I'm still just dead weight.'_  A sigh escaped Kairi's lips as her keyblade dispersed into light fragments. ' _Who am I kidding? I'll never be like any of them.'_

"Hey, A2," Riku said. "I think we should talk about your plan because it's not going to work."

"Why's that?"

"Even if we do manage to find Sora on the moon, the problem will be getting back down to Earth, and I doubt your Commander's going to want us to leave the moon."

' _He's right, I didn't even think that far ahead.'_  "...So we'll just get the Commander to bring Sora down to Earth."

"How?"

"Threatening her with your guy's heads of course, androids can't help but want to protect humans."

"Uh huh...you sure 2B's gonna be fine with you doing all of that on her pod, unless she's Ex-YoRHa like you."

"Of course not, we'll have to incapacitate her."

"Better than outright killing her I guess."

"I'm not so far gone as to kill an android that's fought with me in battle."

"That's uh... good to hear."

Soon enough, they reached an open area with loading crates enclosing the perimeter, at this point, A2 had already come to expect a machine ambush and equipped her sword in preparation for what automated adversary she would face next. This time around, medium biped machines emerged from the loading crates and caught A2 off guard by piling up on top of her in an attempt to crush her. Once again, Riku came to the rescue while Kairi stood behind and watched him stab machine heads as if it were nothing.

With Riku's help, A2 clawed herself out of the machine pile and proceeded with her usual machine killing routine. When she finished off the machines, A2 motioned for Kairi to follow, "Hey, we're gonna take a slight detour here. I need to pick up a weapon for a friend and according to the intel I gathered it should be somewhere along the lower levels of the factory."

Kairi let out a loud groan. "Ughhh, there's more to this place?!"

"Quit complaining or you can stay behind!" A2 snapped.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it."

After a short elevator ride, they arrived at the underground fortress that was the lower levels of the factory, but for what it made up in size, it was eerily devoid of any machine lifeforms, making their journey throughout the factory especially long and tedious. Tired of silence punctuated by the echoes of footsteps, Kairi decided to liven it up with some much needed banter, "So A2... what're you gonna do when the androids win the war against the machines?"

"I won't have much of a purpose if there are no machines to kill, guess you humans will have to keep me busy."

"Yeah, definitely! Let's meet up again sometime when this is all over!"

"Sure, getting drunk off my a- I mean, us drinking together sounds good."

"Orrrrr how about we just relax on the beach side, watch the waves roll by and  _not_  become depressed alcoholics!"

"In that case, I better enjoy killing machines while I still can."

"Speaking of the machines, how come there aren't any of them down here," Riku said.

"Someone came down here before us and wiped them out, but this factory makes machines so we'll run into some eventually. Why, starting to get bored?"

"No, it's just that usually when there's no enemies, it means that something big is coming up."

Kairi playfully pushed on Riku. "Ugh, you're so pessimistic, it's not like we're in a video game, maybe there's just not a lot of machines right now like A2 said."

"I don't know, Earth is pretty messed up, I think we should be realistic here."

*BAM

*BAM

*BAM

"Oh my gosh, what the heck is that?!"

"It's a compactor," A2 said.

They were faced with their most daunting obstacle yet in the abandoned factory; a fast running conveyor belt with automatic compactors that periodically smashed parts of machines on the belt. To make matters worse, heartless infested the conveyor belt, eliminating A2's preferred method of acting first and thinking later, so she turned back to Riku and Kairi for help. Riku kept his cool demeanor as usual, while Kairi was collectively freaking out... as usual.

"Spiky hair, any bright ideas?"

"Yeah, I'll go through and defeat all the heartless, then you guys follow after me and I think I know how to deal with these compactors," He aimed his keyblade at the compactors, then cast the spell 'stopga' on them. Sure enough, the heavy machinery was frozen in time and Riku easily tore through the heartless with his keyblade without having to worry about, you know, instant death.

"I knew he was the smart one," A2 said.

"Wow...thanks for saying that right in front of me A2," Kairi said.

"No problem, ready to go?"

"...yeah."

A2 and Kairi ran down the conveyor belt while the compactors were still suspended, however, the stopga spell wore off before they were able to reach the end so A2 yanked Kairi back by her jacket hood just as one of the compactors slammed down in front of them.

"Hey, you guys okay?!" Riku called out.

"We're fine," A2 said, once the compactors raised itself, they made a mad dash to the other end.

"Talk about a near death experience," Kairi said.

"Sorry about that, I should've layered the spells," Riku said.

"There's probably more up ahead so get used to it," A2 said.

Kairi rubbed the back of her head. "Really? I'm already taken out of it."

"You're not much of a fighter, are you? What, is that weapon of yours just for show."

"It's not that...I just haven't gotten a chance to show off yet like you guys!"

"Must not be anything special if that's the case."

"Shut up!"

A few flights of stairs around a towering facility later and A2 stopped at the edge of a platform stationed above the compactor conveyor belt. Ahead of them was a dangerous path that involved jumping across gaps of machinery where a misstep would most likely lead to an untimely death to the compactors. "According to the intel, the location of this weapon is in the facility at the far end over there," A2 said. "You guys ready?"

"Wait, we have to cross  _that_ just to get some stupid weapon," Kairi said.

"That's right, come on."

"Uh, why don't I just sit this one out." Kairi started backing away, but A2 grabbed her by the arm and bounded from platform to platform with a brazen self assurance of her own abilities. Riku wasn't far behind, albeit moving at a much slower, careful pace. When A2 reached the other side, she set Kairi down.

"Ugh...I think I'm gonna be sick." Kairi mumbled.

"Save it, we got a weapon to secure," A2 kicked the door down and they found an empty room with three chests in the center. At least it appeared to be empty at first glance, but once they got further inside, they were ambushed by fast moving exploder-type machines. "Kamikaze units...this isn't good, you need to get out of here," A2 said.

"No, I want to help you out for once!"

"You're just gonna get in the way!"

Kairi began to protest, but before either she or A2 could reach an agreement, Riku finally arrived in the facility and wasted no time in eliminating the threat with Thundaga. The powerful voltage of electricity fried their circuits and the machines dropped on the ground like flies. "I came just in time," Riku said.

"Whatever, those bombs are probably still active, freeze them to make sure they don't re-activate."

Kairi stared at the backs of A2 and Riku with contempt until she couldn't take it anymore and went outside the facility where she could sulk in peace. ' _I am just getting in the way, I'm not even doing anything.'_ Destiny's Embrace subconsciously manifested in her hand, her eyes fixated on the flower embroidered blade that evoked the ocean waves and most of all, her desires to save Sora. Yet she couldn't remember a time where she actually saved Sora with her keyblade, it was always the other way around, frustrated, she clenched the handle until it hurt. ' _How can I save Sora if I'm always so scared like this? He needs me now more than ever, I have to be there for him.'_

Despite her deteriorating emotional state, Kairi forced a smile and turned back to rejoin her friends only something to grab hold of her body. When she felt cold metal press against her skin, she freaked out, "HELP ME! PLEASE! RIKU! A2! HEEEELP MEEEE!"

"Do not fear android, soon you'll feel nothing." A machine's voice. It began moving away, which made her scream louder.

"Kairi!" Riku sprinted down to Kairi's captor, he threw his keyblade, but the machine was exceptionally fast, dodging his attack in a split second. Fortunately, A2 was right behind Riku and she was able to reach the machine where she swung her sword back to cut its head.

But she missed.

A2's eyes went wide with horror as the machine was unscathed by her blade and jumped further away than she could reach, taking Kairi away. She dropped her sword on the ground, then slammed her fist on the wall. "FUCK!"

Eventually, Riku and A2's faces disappeared into the darkness and were replaced by eerie yellow lights emitting from the lifeless heads of machines. "Finally," One of the machines said. "This android's just what we need to fulfill our ritual. Once her body is reborn as the heartless, we'll become one with her being in the darkness."

The other machines poured out a chorus of amen's to applaud their victory.

' _They're gonna turn me into a heartless?!'_ "N-No, please, p-please, I don't wanna do this! I'm so scared, I j-just wannagohome...I I...I I justwannaseeSora!" Kairi sobbed.

"Hush now," Her captor pressed its hand over her mouth. "Don't cry, it'll all be over soon and then you'll never feel such terrible emotion again."

The machine carried her over to the center of the facility where a cluster of machines waited for her, it set her down then stood back. "Commence the last fulfillment of our ritual." As the faces of machines stared into Kairi's soul, moments away from tearing her body apart limb from limb, something deep inside her heart snapped and suddenly the yellow eyes of the machines started to look more and more like heartless until the lines between them blurred.

Kairi used her keyblade to impale one of the machine's heads and as soon as that first one was killed, there was no stopping her until each machine met their end to her blade. "...just one left now," Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the darkness and she could see traces of an object moving in the background, but before Kairi had the chance to react, she received a heavy blow to her stomach that was strong enough to send her flying into the back wall.

"YOU! You ruined everything! Why couldn't you just sit there and be still like the other ones?!"

Loud stomping noises rung throughout the facility, growing louder with each passing moment. ' _I'm at a disadvantage in the dark, I'll have to level the playing field.'_  Kairi lit her keyblade on fire and was able to intercept an incoming attack from the machine, but when she swung her keyblade back, the machine swiftly dodged it, leaving her wide open.

The machine snatched Kairi by the arm, then held her high up in the air. "Useless, pathetic girl! You had ONE job to give us eternal oblivion! I'll crush you!"

Kairi kicked the machine in the head and managed to wrangle herself free. "This ends now!" She pointed her keyblade to the ceiling and summoned seven pillars of light that bathed the black facility in blinding white light. The bright flash caused a sensory overload in the machine, briefly disorienting the machine and when the light dissipated, Kairi was nowhere to be found.

"Huh? Where did she—"

"Go to hell, bastard." Kairi pushed her keyblade through the machine's back and cast fire on its body, ending its life.

"There...see...that wasn't so bad...heh heh..." The fire consumed the machine and as she watched it slowly melt away, she also felt a part of herself melt away along with it, revealing a new sensation that was foreign to her. She couldn't quite name it, but the world didn't seem as bright and full of life as it used to be, it was dead like ash. Kairi squeezed her arm, even with the fire burning, she'd never felt so cold before "...is that what it feels like to be them."

Kairi suddenly clasped her hands over her mouth, regurgitating something and when she pulled her hands back she could see a dark red substance staining her palms. "...ah...AAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Her blood curdling screams rattled within the factory walls with the horrifying realization of what she'd become.

*click-clack-click

_'There's another one.'_  Kairi dragged herself to her feet, she ran ahead and swung her keyblade around until the blade smacked something metal which caused her sword to vibrate.

"You're human, aren't you," A voice said, it was hard to tell with what little light Kairi had, but she could make out the face of an android similar to A2. "I'm 2B, you okay?"

She shook her head.

"I can get you out of the factory, but if you're human, you have to go back to the moon. Pod, run an analysis on her."

Pod 042: Running...Running...Running. Analysis complete. The analysis concludes this specimen has near-identical composition to the individual known as "Sora", therefore she is human in that regard. However, her mental and emotional state has greatly deteriorated to the point of concern which poses a threat to her overall safety. Proposal: improve the human's mental and emotional state in order to secure the human's overall well being.

"That's more of 9S's specialty than mine. What do you think Pascal?"

"This is quite discerning, and it breaks my heart to see another human suffer in this world," Pascal extended his arm to Kairi. "My name is Pascal, what might yours be?"

"You're a machine..."

"And I have absolutely no intention of harming you. I'm a pacifist machine and I detest fighting of any kind."

She shook her head. "I...I don't want anything to do with machines."

"I understand, I apologize."

"You didn't come here alone, did you?" 2B asked.

"No...please, if you can, help me find A2 and Riku, I don't want to be alone..."

"A2? She brought you here?"

"She came here looking for you."

"Why?"

"To use your pod for...something."

"Guess we'll both find out. Pod, conduct a search of nearby black box signals."

Pod 042: Nearby black box signal detected, marking location on map.

"She's close by. Let's move."

It didn't take long for them to find A2 and Riku running along the factory halls in desperate search of their friend, 2B dropped down in front of them with Kairi by her side.

"Kairi!" Riku ran over to Kairi and squeezed her as hard as he could. "You alright? I'm sorry that I couldn't save you in time...I was so worried about you."

"It's okay...I killed that machine."

"Really? Guess you can be a competent fighter," A2 said. "But hey, I should've kept a closer eye on you so that didn't happen. I'll make it up to you by being nicer from now on."

"I mean, you lost the bet anyway, but I suppose it's the thought that counts."

A2 opened her mouth to express how 'thoughtful' she was to Kairi, but 2B cut her off before she got the chance. "—A2, you have some explaining to do," She said.

"I could say the same thing, what the hell are you doing with the enemy?"

"Pascal is a pacifist machine, he poses no threat to YoRHa. You on the other hand, are lucky to still be alive."

"What, do you have something to settle with me? If you're looking for a fight, I'll be glad to give you one!"

"I'm not interested, tell me what was so important that you had to find me and put the human in proximity to danger?"

' _Shit, 2B already knows the girl's a human, I'll at least keep the other one a secret.'_ "... I wanted to use your pod so I could tell command to send her back to the moon."

"Is that so? That's unlike you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You went out of your way to find me, I thought you would've just killed someone and taken a pod that way."

"Why does everyone keep saying that..."

"Is the other one human too?"

' _2B's not gonna like him being Ex-YoRHa so I'll skip over that.'_  "He's an android."

"He looks like he could be with YoRHa."

"I get that a lot," Riku said. "Must be the hair, right?"

"Right...we should get going before any hostile machines show up."

On their way out of the factory, Riku moved closer to A2, "The plan's still the same, right?" He asked in a hushed voice.

"The situation has changed, but the outcome is still the same...although, I know you humans can get hesitant, so I'm counting on you not to fuck that up."

He shook his head. "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to find Sora."

They were back outside the factory's entrance where 2B connected her pod to the bunker's server.

"Operator, I need you to contact the Commander immediately."

"You got it, 2B!"

Pod 042: Pending...Pending...

"This is the Commander to 2B. Now's not really a good time to talk, so please be brief."

"I've found another human that needs to be returned to the moon base colony."

"You...what? Are you serious..."

"Yes." 2B panned the pod over to Kairi, who awkwardly smiled and waved her hand in response.

"Unbelievable...I assume she went looking for Sora?"

"Wait, does that mean you know where Sora is?!"

"...Of course, and you'll most certainly get to see Sora again soon. I'll dispatch the transportation vehicle immediately. And 2B,"

"Yes, Commander?"

"This goes without saying, but please protect this human at all cost and make sure no harm comes to her. The Earth is ... unstable with the threat of the heartless and we can't afford to lose a single human."

"—We'll see about that!" A2 pushed 2B out of the way and stood in her place in front of the pod. "Hey White, miss me, bitch?"

Riku worked behind the scenes to freeze 2B in place with Stopga so the broadcast wouldn't get cut short.

"Number 2, what is the meaning of this?" Commander White asked.

"Let's get one thing clear: the human girl is in  _my_  possession and you're going to bring Sora back to Earth or I'll kill her."

"You can save the threats. Even a traitorous android like you would never harm a human."

"Do you really want to test my integrity as an android right now?! An android wouldn't do half the shit I've done, but I'm here now, aren't I?! So don't be surprised if you come down to Earth and find her—" A2 stopped to pull out her sword and clash with 2B.

The broadcast showed low angle shots of 2B and A2 fighting with each other until a disconnect message flashed on the monitor.

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Curse of Desolation**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The mysterious letter/underground coliseum sidequest is the one that's been requested the most so I'm going through with that one and a few others. So yeah, thanks for the suggestions guys!
> 
> One more thing, if there was a keyblade for the NieR: Automata world, what would a good name for it be?


	19. Exha[U]sted

"Do you have the exact coordinates of their location?" Commander White asked, stepping away from the podium.

"Yes ma'am. Should we deploy a team of executioner androids to her location or should we trust Unit 2B to carry out A2's execution? We've also received A2's black box signal from 2B's pod in case she escapes, " An Operator said.

"I'm afraid we'll need more tact to handle this situation, while Unit 2B is an exceptional fighter, A2 has managed to kill even our best androids. We need a better strategy to go about this, in the meantime, has Sora's location been determined?"

"Yes, 4S and 42S are in the middle of hacking the code lock in order to break through the room, they should be back anytime now with Sora."

Right on cue, 4S and 42S carried an unconscious Sora down to Commander White. "Sorry for losing Sora," 4S said.

"I know and you're fired. 42S, you've been promoted Sora's escort."

"Ah, really?" He rubbed the back of his head. "You think I'm cut out for that type of stuff?"

"That's what I'm saying, come on, don't make me go back to field duty Commander," 4S said.

"We'll see what your next assignment will be later, right now we need to divide our attention on rescuing the human in A2's possession and defeating the heartless in the desert region in order to help the 12th reconnaissance division." Commander White readjusted her focus to everyone in the mission control center. "Attention all androids! Due to conflicting interests, there's unfortunately not enough time to try replicating Sora's sword when there are android lives on the line as we speak, we, of course, won't lose faith in this project, but we'll have to postpone it until further notice."

Commander White returned to the podium. "However, I do have an idea on how to both eliminate the heartless in the desert and retrieve the second human. We'll initiate a bait and switch strategy after the heartless are defeated, Sora will be brought to A2's location with a team of Type E androids and he'll be used to lure out A2 for her elimination, that way she'll no longer be a threat to the humans or YoRHa androids."

"Oh, you're prioritizing the other androids over saving the human first," 42S said.

"2B's reports indicate that A2 and Sora had a close relationship, he won't cooperate with us if we kill A2 right in front of him. You understand that, don't you 42S?"

"...yes." 42S hid his hands behind his back so the Commander wouldn't see his balled-up fists, but his unsteady voice, barely masking the anger rising within him sent a clear message to her.

"Do you have something you would like to say?"

"No...it's just...you've never prioritized the North HQ...you've always told us that we were strong because we never had to rely on the human to deal with our problems. So why is it different now?"

She lowered her eyes at the young android, contorting her face into that of a concerned parent looking down on their child and 42S braced for the long lecture that was about to follow. "Because that's what the mission demands of us. I know the implications for an android to be saved by a human...but it was foolish of me to perpetuate something as worthless as self-pride when an android's life is worth more than what we were built for. We need to carry out the mission at hand by any means necessary so we can save lives."

"...yes Commander." He fixated his gaze on the metallic floor.  _'But do you mean those words, Commander?_ _Ever since we've found Sora, you've been acting different._ _I can never tell if you actually care about us or if we're just a means to an end for a human.'_

"I still don't get why you guys  _have_  to kill A2, you've never really pursued her before until now," 4S said, intentionally changing the subject.

"A2 is the most wanted YoRHa android on file and has killed countless of androids, this was inevitable. Besides she knew exactly what she was doing, it's as if she was asking us to find her."

* * *

Time: 15:00

"I still can't believe there's another human on Earth, the moon colony must not have that greatest security, huh."

"Yeah I know, god, we're gonna be getting so much Council of Humanity messages now. My inbox is already full!"

"I know what you mean, but hopefully she'll get to stay in the Bunker for a while so we can meet her, she's so cute! It kind of makes me a bit jealous of Sora..."

"一Hey, quiet you two! The Commander's direct orders are to not talk about the second human, don't be idiots or I'll have to write you up."

Time: 15:45

"Ughhh...what happened...where am I?" Sora's brain was in a disorganized mess, he wasn't sure if he was actually inside a high tech aircraft surrounded by YoRHa androids or if it was just a highly specific dream, either way, he was very lost and very confused.

"You finally awake?"

Sora slowly turned his head around to see a Type-S android with short, messy blonde hair that nearly reached past his visor. "My name is 42S, and I already know your name is Sora! Nice to finally meet you!"

"Huh? What's going on...why am I here?"

"I wouldn't sweat the details too much, but right now we're in transit to the apartment complex of the desert where your assistance is needed there to defeat a heartless."

"Wha- that's a lot of details  _not_  to sweat- and this doesn't make any sense! I was helping 2B fight the machines, she needs my help!"

He shook his head. "Don't worry about 2B, her mission was a success."

"Oh...okay." ' _I guess this is a good thing, once I'm back on Earth I'm just gonna give these guys the slip and find A2!'_

"One more thing, can't believe I almost forgot-" 42S shoved a white box into Sora's hands. "It's a gift from us, you're gonna need the energy for your mission. I'm gonna go check up on some stuff, but give me a call if you need anything." With that, he stood up and walked towards the flight deck where the Captain was.

' _I kind of like that guy even though I have no idea where he came from.'_  But 42S quickly faded out of memory as Sora suffered a splitting headache that preoccupied his inner thoughts, he squeezed his head, trying to ease the pounding in his skull. ' _I don't know why, but my head's killing me. Maybe walking around a bit will help.'_ Standing to his feet, he stretched his back out and wandered around the aircraft, as far as the interior went, it was identical to the Bunker; cold and empty.

' _The heartless must have gotten pretty bad without me around, I hope A2 and the others are okay. Knowing A2, she's probably out there killing machines somewhere without a care in the world, I hope she didn't forget about me.'_

*gurgruru

Sora clenched his grumbling stomach. "That's me alright, well looks like I have no choice but to eat up. Can't fight heartless on an empty stomach." He went back to retrieve the white box he left lying on the floor, ripping it open, he was pleasantly surprised to find seared boar meat wrapped in lettuce garnished with roasted mushrooms. "Ah, this actually looks good!" He happily tore off a huge chunk of boar meat, excited he was eating appetizing food and not space mush. "And it tastes good too!"

"I'm glad to hear it." One of the androids emerged from out of the background and approached Sora, nothing really stood out that made her deviate from the standard YoRHa Type B-model, which is probably why Sora didn't even notice her at first. She had thick brown hair tied up in a ponytail and dressed in a more conservative version of the typical YoRHa uniform. "Hey, I'm 70B, the Commander forced us to research human cuisine after she found you destroyed all the food, we didn't know how troublesome it was being human."

Upon closer inspection, Sora realized she bore dozens of scars and scratch marks that revealed parts of her endoskeleton.  _'I wonder where she got those scars from, they look too sharp to be from machines.'_

"You're staring, is there something wrong?"

"Wha- no, sorry! I didn't mean to stare, it's just those scars, they look like they hurt..."

"This?" She grazed her hand over her face, then waved it off. "Aw, this is nothing special, I don't want to freak you out or anything."

Before Sora could argue, He felt that sharp, throbbing pain drumming on his head again and 70B reacted accordingly by uploading a small bottle of liquid from her database.

"Here, this will make you feel better."

"Thanks." Without thinking, he guzzled down the liquid only to immediately spit it out. "Ugh what the heck is this stuff?! It's so bitter!"

"Alcohol."

"WHAT?!"

"Huh you don't like it? I thought humans love that stuff."

"Only certain types of humans!" Sora's shoulders sunk, his overly trusting nature had backfired on him and now he felt like his whole world was turning upside down- the worst part was that the alcohol did actually soothe his headache a little bit. "I can't believe I drank that stuff, I'm such a bad kid now! My future as a good boy is over!"

"Geez, you're kind of making me feel bad now."

*ALERT-ALERT

The aircraft began rumbling back and forth and a noisy siren blared out loud, but even amidst the chaos, the captain's voice could still be heard loud and clear, "What the hell is going on 26B, can't you fly this damn thing?!" She yelled.

"We're under attack from an unidentifiable enemy, Captain!"

"Then blast the damn thing! This ship's too expensive to be destroyed!"

"We're trying to, but they keep coming back!"

"一Captain, our main thrusters have sustained heavy damage, we're quickly losing altitude, what should we do?!"

"Cut off the power from the interior and re-distribute it to our energy shield, how close are we to the desert?"

"We've nearly reached the City Ruins, we should be approaching the desert in 13 minutes. Cutting off power and redirecting it to the energy shield now!"

Once the main lights shut off, the android's pod flash flights turned on so they wouldn't be basked in total darkness. It didn't invite the most welcoming atmosphere, however, the gaps of blackness between the spotlights would become breeding grounds for heartless before long, so Sora summoned his keyblade in anticipation for any unwanted guests. A few seconds later, he felt something brush up on his shoulder and nearly went into attack mode, but when he turned around, he only saw 42's friendly face radiating from his pod's light.

"Wow things went downhill really fast, but I'm sure we can count on the Captain to handle this," He said.

"Well I'm tired of sitting around and you guys getting hurt because of me, let me out of here and I can defeat the heartless!"

"Uh...did that booze go straight to your head?" 70B said.

"What- no I'm perfectly fine!"

"That's noble of you Sora, but you're going a little overboard in the hero department," 42S said. "We'll take care of everything, alright!"

"You're crazy if you think I'm just gonna sit around and not help you guys out!"

" _I'm_  the crazy one?!"

*ALERT: ENERGY SHIELD FUNCTIONALITY AT 50%

"What's going on, the shield couldn't of sustained that much damage in such a short amount of time," The Captain said.

"It's not that- something is destroying our power source from the engine room," 26B said.

"Then we'll send an android down to eliminate the threat, 70B-"

"一I'll go down there," Sora said. "I know it's the heartless that's causing you guys so much trouble and I'm the only one who can defeat them!"

"I see, then it doesn't look like we have a choice. 70B you'll accompany him."

"Captain, please let me accompany Sora too," 42S said. "I...I want to play a part in protecting Sora, you should understand as an android!"

"I don't care just get down to the engine room and fix the issue!"

"Of course Captain."

"Yes, Captain, Sora is safe with us."

70B and 42S brought Sora to the elevator that took them down to the basement level where the engine room was, but the moment the elevator doors slid open, 42S ran off ahead, leaving them behind. _'I'll kill these heartless and justify our existence.'_  He found the heartless gnawing on exposed wires and pulling apart the inner framework, then summoned his signature Type-4O lance from his manipulator field. Despite not being built for combat, he was efficient enough with his lance to make quick work of the heartless' physical forms. "I've seen machines in the north with more power than these excuses of enemies!"

"42S! Watch out!"

But before Sora could reach the engine room, 42S was thrown on the ground from an animal-like heartless. It bared his fangs at 42S, just as he was seconds away from having his head ripped off like a piece of meat, the heartless' body was slashed in half, leaving only a tiny heart to signify its departure. Sora slung his keyblade over his back, then defeated the rest of the heartless that were on the cusps of regaining their physical forms.

42S gawked at Sora's back in disbelief, and when he returned to pick him up off the ground, 42S could only stare at the metallic floor where his pathetic reflection stared back at him.

"Hey, you okay, 42S? That was dangerous, androids can't fight off the heartless without a keyblade, y'know. Just leave them to me from now on."

Without so much as speaking, 42S grasped his hands on his face, ripping off his visor and revealing his sunken, glossed over eyes. "...I want to show you something, Sora," He briefly fumbled with the buttons on his jacket, until eventually pulling the black cloth off of his body. Most of the synthetic skin from his chest was clawed off, leaving exposed endoskeleton and visible wiring as a reminder of his past failure. 42S sunk his fingers into his chest, dragging his fingernails across the metal plate so it would leave a permanent scratch mark. "The skin...I think ... is what makes us resemble humans the most, without it, we couldn't even call ourselves androids... the heartless took that much away from me and these scars are a reminder of everyone I wasn't strong enough to protect."

42S fell down to his hands and knees. "So please...please teach me how to be human enough to kill them. I want to be strong enough to protect everyone...I want to be strong enough to protect you."

*ALERT: ALL SYSTEMS DOWN. REPEAT: ALL SYSTEMS DOWN. EVACUATE THE TRANSPORTATION VEHICLE AT ONCE

Sora responded by picking 42S off the ground. "Don't lower yourself for me..." His voice was shaking, but he gave 42S direct eye contact and never lost focus on him even as their world dissented into chaos. "You don't have to become anything for me because I'm the one who will protect you guys from the heartless from now on until they're gone for good." Blaring emergency lights flooded the engine room and Sora's blue eyes were washed out by the red lights, igniting a drive within him to be their hero. Wheel of Fate manifested in his hand and he stormed out of the engine room.

"Hey, where the hell are you going?!" 70B called out after him.

"I'm getting out of here! Come on!" Rushing down the hall, they felt violent tremors and shakiness within the aircraft until it relapsed into free-fall motion. Once they reached the escape hatch at the end of the hall, Sora broke it open with his keyblade, then jumped out of the aircraft. As he was plummeting downwards, he saw the Raging Vulture heartless and its army of Vaporflys had invaded Earth's skies so he air stepped to the top of the falling aircraft and faced his old adversary. "Argh! Not you again, I'll make sure you stay defeated this time!"

While Sora was engaging with the airborne heartless, 70B and 42S climbed on top of the aircraft as well in pursuit of Sora. "God, that human's out of his fucking mind," 70B said. "42S, abandon ship, I'll make sure Sora gets down to the ground safely!"

"..." 42S was too absorbed by Sora's fight with the heartless to pay attention to 70B's orders.  _'You're using a spear just like my weapon, what're you trying to tell me? Maybe I'd know if I helped you fight, but I'll only get in your way.'_

"42S! GO!"

"Huh? Oh sorry," He saluted to her. "Yes, ma'am!"

Having already slain the heartless in his previous adventure, the second time around didn't prove to be as needlessly of a long process and with the robust Wheel of Fate keyblade to aid him, the terrifying Raging Vulture met its ends to Sora's keyblade once again. The real challenge would be to escape the aircraft without losing a limb or two, fortunately, 70B caught Sora in her arms, then used her pod to safely hover them down to the surface.

 _'It's always androids that end up saving me in the end.'_ "Thanks...is 42S okay" Sora asked.

"Yeah, he should be fine."

"..." Sora looked back up at 70B's scarred face, his mind wandering. "Those scars...are they from the heartless?"

"Heh, if I told you the truth you wouldn't like me as much anymore. Just think of me as no one special."

"But I don't think so, you're pretty awesome!" He said with a smile.

"A human like you would say that...ah, I just hope everyone else is okay."  _'Otherwise, the operation won't go nearly as smooth.'_

一

Before A2 and 2B's duel could progress any further, Riku stepped in between the two androids. Oblivious of his true identity as a human, 2B pushed down on Riku's keyblade. "You want me to kill you too? Get the hell out of my way!" She raised her sword again, only to be forced to stop herself when Kairi stood in front of Riku and A2.

"Damn it!" She clenched the handle of her blade until ultimately lowering her arm in defeat. "Why do you humans always have to interfere between androids?!"

"Look, I don't know about what's going on between you two and I know it's not my place to decide, but please don't hurt A2! She just wants to save Sora!"

"Taking away Sora from his home isn't saving him!"

"His home is with me! We're not from the moon, so wherever Sora is, he's not safe!"

"That doesn't make any sense. If you're not from the moon, then where else could you be from?"

"Uh...Earth...but somewhere really far away and there aren't a lot of androids there either, so..." ' _I'm totally lying to her right now, this feels so wrong.'_

"Are you saying you're from the Night Kingdom?"

"Of course, that's definitely what I'm saying!"

' _There is no communication between there and the Bunker so it's not implausible for humans to exist, I wonder if the Commander knows about this information.'_  "But that doesn't align with information Sora has previously told us."

"And there's a great explanation for that as well...which is that... Sora wanted to protect our identities!"

"I don't take Sora as having the foresight to do that, but I suppose there's more to him than what I was led to believe. Even so, that doesn't change the fact that A2 interfered with my mission, and that's not something I'll take lightly. I can only tolerate so much from a traitor!"

"Then kill me, 2B! Draw your sword, we'll finish this now!"

"A2, you're not helping your case," Riku said.

"I don't care! If she doesn't kill me, then whatever the Commander's going to do will! I put everything on the line for him, you think I actually care what happens to me now?!"

"Well if you're going to fight A2, then you're fighting us too," Kairi said, summoning her keyblade.

"I don't need humans to fight my own battles for me!"

"Ugh!" Kairi sharply turned back to A2. "Quit being so stubborn A2! Do you  _want_  to die?!"

"I said I don't care what happens to me!"

"Yes, you do! It's so obvious you want to see Sora just as much as we do!"

"No I don't, shut up!"

"Enough," 2B said, she focused her attention on Kairi. "I'll help you reunite with Sora, I have no reason to doubt what you say is true. Although I can't say for sure whether you'll be on the moon or on the Earth, you will see him again. I'll explain everything to the Commander and maybe she can get something worked out for you."

"I'm coming too," Riku said.

"Why?"

"Riku's really close with all of us, we have to be together," Kairi said.

"If that's what you want, I won't stop you. The Commander will make the ultimate call so I'll leave that to her, we'll head out to the Resistance camp where we won't be susceptible to any machine interference. And A2, this better be the last time I see you."

"Whatever."

"Wow, so then I guess this is goodbye A2...for now anyway." Kairi surprised A2 by running up to hug her. "Thank you for everything."  _'Geez her body's a lot harder than it looks, this is so uncomfortable.'_

A2 pushed Kairi off of her. "...just say goodbye like a normal person."

She giggled. "Alright, goodbye A2!"

"Yeah, later," Riku said.

 _'Riku still doesn't know how to talk to girls I see.'_ Kairi waved goodbye at A2 who dismissed her in return. "Oh- I'll tell Sora that you miss him in case you can't see him!"

"Heh, you want me to follow up on that threat?"

She smirked. "Go ahead."

 _'That's a new side of her.'_ She watched as the three disappeared within the City Ruins while Pascal stayed behind to approach her. "A2, right? If you'd like, you're free to visit my village if you have nowhere else to go."

"Get lost."

"I see, well, you're always welcome. A friend of Sora is a friend of mine." And then he left and she was alone.

With nothing else left to do, A2 sat down at the edge of the pier that hung over the grimy, oil sea. ' _I won't lie to myself, I hate being alone now, but I have to get used to this again, don't I?'_ Instead of feeling sorry for herself, A2 decided to do what she did best and take her anger out on some unsuspecting machines, but when she stood up to leave, she caught a glimpse of something in the distance that grabbed her attention and wouldn't let go. "What the hell was that?!"

After scaling a few construction beams so she could get a better view, she saw a massive aircraft falling from the sky until it was obscured by the rocky horizon. ' _That thing was falling towards the desert region. I'll go check it out, maybe it has something to do with Sora.'_

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**『** **I Wish I Never Met You** **』**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'm gearing up for the last few chapters of Route A/B! Thanks again for the keyblade names, I got a lot of great names, I can't use them all but I'll implement a few of them into the attack names/keyblade transformation.


	20. MEANINGLESS EXIS[T]ENCE

Pod 153: Incoming Call from the Commander

"This is the Commander to 9S."

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry. You're needed back at Command."

"Understood."

.

.

.

"...Commander, you needed me?"

"You left quite a trail when you accessed the main server."

"That's what I wanted to speak with you about."

"Go on."

"I found records stating that the Council of Humanity was established as part of Project YoRHa. But I'd always heard it was the other way around. So did YoRHa actually  _create_  the Council of Humanity?"

"...Yes. We installed the Council of Humanity's server on the surface of the moon."

"But that means..."

"Mankind no longer exists. In truth, humans never went to the moon at all."

"But- But that doesn't make any sense! Sora is human, so isn't he from the moon?!"

"No, I don't know where he came from, maybe he's from another planet, who knows."

"And...the heartless?"

"They're not native to Earth either and now this world is slowly falling apart because of them... but it's worth losing everything if we can have a God to believe in. We all need something to fight for and he's the one who gives us purpose."

Something broke.

9S could feel it inside of him. His worldview shattered into millions of pieces and he was left grasping at the fragments, trying to piece a broken reality back together.

' _How am I supposed to feel? I feel so many things, but which one of them is right?'_

_Betrayal._

_Joy._

_Sadness._

_Anger._

_Confusion._

_...Oblivion._

But the anger rising within his core gave 9S the voice to speak. "So you're going to keep him trapped here all so we can continue living in this lie?! I'd rather live in a world without God than have him suffer!"

"Androids were built to have a purpose, even you know that 9S. Sora is the face of why we fight, a god, and if turned out that androids were not only dying for something that doesn't exist, but that the human is by all accounts an alien who's actively made their situation worse. Well- you can imagine what would happen after that...there would be no YoRHa."

"Why can't you just send him back if he's causing this much trouble?!"

"It's not that simple. I'm sure even he doesn't know how to get back to his home, but we're too far into this to go back now, I have no intention of sending him away."

"So...so why are you telling me all of this?"

Commander White shut her eyes, recollecting her thoughts, then she looked back at 9S dead in the eye. Even then, 9S still couldn't tell what exactly was going through her mind. Her eyes were empty, but emptiness was what made them androids and her tone gave no indication of any emotion as if it were a mask to her true feelings. "You tell me, 9S. Whatever path you choose from now on will be up for you to decide, but if you can't handle the truth, don't go out of your way to find the answers."

* * *

Pod 358: Incoming call from Unit 16B

"This the Captain to 70B, is Sora secured?"

"Yeah he's fine, we've located 42S around the crash site of the human transportation vehicle. How are things on your end?"

"We've all managed to evacuate before the aircraft crashed, although the Commander won't be particularly happy about this development."

"Oh you haven't told her yet? Man, you're  _so_  in for it, should I get used to calling you 16B again?"

"Very funny. I've sent you the coordinates of the rendezvous spot, arrive in no later than half an hour, we're going to have to revise our strategy."

"Figured as much, well see you then Captain if I can get Sora off his butt that is."

Sora was in the middle of burying a barely conscious 42S in the sand, once he added the finishing touches, he stood back in admiration of his creation. "Ta-dah! What do you think 70B, not bad, right? I'm practically a pro at this type of stuff!"

At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a heap of sand that lacked form, but then 70B realized it was just a poor attempt at making a mermaid sand sculpture. "Uh-huh, it looks like his body got run over by a moose. Let me refine it a bit," She added a few of her own touches, which involved dumping two huge mounds of sand where 42S's chest would be. "Now THAT'S a nice look!"

"Don't you think that's a little perverted, 70B..."

"Whoa, what the hell?!" 42S yelled out, he dug himself out of his casket of sand, then furiously brushed the particles off his uniform. "Not cool you guys! This is gonna take forever to clean."

"Ah, sorry 42S," Sora said. "But it was pretty funny."

"Dude, you're so in for it now!" In a boyish manner, 42S playfully pushed on Sora and his only natural response was for him to push back, needless to say, things escalated to the point where they both wrestling each other in the sand.

70B watched on with amusement at the boys' antics.  _'Nice. I haven't seen 42S this happy in a long time, apart of me is glad he's going back to his old self, but I'm mostly annoyed as hell. Guess I'm getting more mature.'_  Making sure they stay focused on their current objective, she slipped back into serious business mode. "So a lot's happened in the past hour, but the mission remains the same. Come on, let's not waste any more time than we already have."

Sora used 'aero' to blow the sand off their bodies, then they followed 70B into the endless desert. It was just as unbearably hot as he last remembered it, but with the addition of 'water' to his arsenal, he wouldn't have to worry about collapsing from heat exhaustion any time soon. Likewise, the memories of traveling throughout the desert with A2 by his side were still fresh in his mind and stuck to him like the rough particles of sand on his skin.

_'I wonder if A2 ever came back to the desert to fight some machines and then lost her arm again. She does like to push herself way past her limits, hopefully, she's still in one piece.'_

"Hey, Sora..." 42S started to say.

"Hm?"

"You know, I was expecting to you to be a lot more intimidating based on the reports, but when you're not pulling off crazy stunts you're really...I don't know...goofy?" 42S said.

"And dorky," 70B said.

"Yeah, that too."

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, I'll take that as a compliment... but it sounds like you guys read up on me a lot."

"'Cause we have to. Unit 2B and 9S write detailed reports about you and in return, we run an analysis and study your behavior. The Operators are all over it, but I don't think we've gotten very far in terms of understanding humans because some androids don't take the whole data collecting thing seriously enough."

"Yeah, I screwed with some results because I told an Operator that humans would die if they don't eat or drink after a few hours. Gotta say, Command was not happy when they found out the truth," 70B said.

' _So that's where that came from.'_  "Wait, so 2B and 9S wrote about everything I've ever done with them?! Oh no..."

"Yep, and in painfully excruciating detail. We've got a good laugh out of a few entries though-"

Pod 358: Alert. Multiple machine lifeforms detected ahead.

"Finally." 70B summoned her weapons of choice; Ancient Overlord and Iron Will一 a departure from the usual YoRHa issue blades most units were assigned, but she long discarded those swords in favor of weapons that would complement her destructive fighting style. Running ahead, she found a group of machines talking idly among each other and when they saw 70B they started freaking out.

"Ahhhh! P-p-p-please don't kill us, android!"

"We...we don't wanna die!" Another one wailed.

A devilish smile pursed her lips. "Heh, I love it when my victims beg for their life, this is going to be exhilarating!"

By the time Sora and 42S reached 70B, the machines were in a scrambled mess and black oil stained her hands and face. "You're a messy fighter," 42S said, he took out some cloth from the satchel strapped around his chest then handed it to her. "Not a great look for someone aiming to be Captain one day."

"I can't help it when I get into combat." She wiped off the oil dripping down her chin. "We need to keep moving, we still have a long stretch ahead of us."

"You're telling me, maaaan I really took the transporters for granted! Is this what humans have to do all the time, Sora?"

"Walking's pretty old fashioned these days, but I don't mind taking the scenic route!"

"Just pick up the pace, we're running on time here," 70B said.  _'I have to keep myself restrained going forward, I can't let my true nature slip or the human will be suspicious of us.'_

Eroded apartment buildings sunken into the sand, abandoned city streets and playgrounds, dead and crumbling away; a reminder of the past civilization that once thrived had now long faded into memories of dust. It marked their entry into the apartment complex where the rest of androids from the aircraft had set up a makeshift base of operations.

"70B and 42S," The Captain said, approaching them. "In regards to the current operation, we've decided it would be best to send out a small team first to defeat the heartless and then the rest of us will rescue any surviving YoRHa androids, just to eliminate any unnecessary casualties."

"Understood. I don't mind filling in that role if that's what you're asking of me."

"I'll help too," 42S said.

"While I appreciate your enthusiasm, we've already decided on our units."

"You've got to be kidding me..."

"You're the one who arrived 15 minutes late and we weren't going to wait for you!"

"15 minutes?! Sorry, I must have lost track of time," 70B turned to Sora. "Wish I could be there for you little dude, but I'll be rooting for you up here."

"Don't worry, I know you'll do great as always Sora! We'll be waiting for you!" 42S said.

"7D and 13B, he's ready to depart," The Captain said.

Two androids separated from the crowd and motioned Sora to follow.

There was silence from the androids as they walked down the tunnel, which was to be expected of YoRHa soldiers whose focus always remained on the mission. Only Sora's mind wandered as they passed by mangled android corpses wrought with darkness which was to be expected of a human-like Sora, whose focus could never remain idle when lives were at stake. After surfacing from the tunnel, they were faced with the monstrous Darkside heartless and its army of shadows that alone compelled 7D and 13B to speak.

"We'll offer support to the androids on the ground, but the rest is up to you," 7D said.

"We're counting on you," 13B said

The actual battle took place in a deep pit with sand cascading from severed pipelines and support beams sticking out of the sandstone wall. Without hesitation, Sora jumped down and dove right into the belly of the beast with Favorite Deputy clenched tightly in his hands. Since his last encounter with the Darkside heartless in the Forest Kingdom, Sora had grown in power considerably, able to take on the monstrous darkness with ease. Then when he landed down on the ground, he used the drill dive shotlock to destroy the remaining heartless in range.

' _I think I've regained nearly all of the strength I've lost, just missing a few keyblades, but I'm strong enough now that I can definitely save everyone.'_  Sora went back to help the androids in the 12th reconnaissance division casualties, approaching one android who appeared to be in worse condition than the others and helped her up. "Hey, you alright? I can use cure to heal your wounds."

"Ha...haven't we got the roles switched around? You've helped us androids enough...just set me down near that loading crate and my self-recovery unit can do the rest."

"Okay..."

"一Sora!" 7D and 13B ran over to him. "We've already sent rescue signals to the Bunker so our work here is done," 13B said.

"That's it, huh? Well I guess I'll be seeing you guys!"

"Not quite. We still have one more objective to carry out to its end," 7D said.

"...which is?"

"That's classified."

"But the work you've done here is exceptional, you truly give androids hope for the future."

"Aw, it's nothing! Saving you guys is my job!" ' _I'm definitely ditching these guys, no way I'm doing another objective they're not even going to tell me about.'_

However, with one enemy defeated, another one arose from hiding in the form of a cloaked intruder that struck down 7D and 13B from behind and attempted to grab Sora, but he quickly dodged and gathered distance away from them.

"It's an intruder!" One of the androids pointed out. "Come on, let's save the human!"

Even as low functioning and badly damaged as they were, the androids of the 12th reconnaissance division summoned what little strength they had to try and save Sora. A valiant effort rendered in vain as the cloaked intruder easily knocked them out with a few well-aimed punches and kicks.

' _Why is that guy wearing an Organization cloak?! I thought we defeated them!'_ Sora swung his keyblade out, threw it at the cloaked intruder circle raid style and managed to land a hit right on the side of their head. "Heck yeah! Take that!" At that point, the cloaked intruder was gunning for Sora, so he cut his losses and tried to run away, only for him to get yanked back by his hood.

"THAT HURT, DAMNIT!"

"Huh? You sound a lot like A2..."

"Because it's me you dumbass!" A2 tugged her hood off, revealing herself to Sora.

Before A2 knew it, Sora was squeezing her as hard as he could. "A2...I missed you so much," He said in a soft voice.

"...me too."  _'His body feels so warm against mine. This feeling takes me back- wait, what the hell am I thinking?!'_  A2 pulled away from him, flustered. "Look, it was just getting boring without you, okay?

"Really? But it seems like you've done a lot, where'd you even get that coat from?"

She pinched the fabric. "Killed a machine for it."

"Seriously? Guess I can't ask the machine where it got it from either... but it doesn't look bad on you or anything if that's what you're thinking!"

"Uh-huh..."

A2 blatantly didn't listen to Sora as she was more focused on the fact that their eyes nearly met at the same level. ' _He's almost as tall as me now, I don't have to lower my head to talk to him.'_ "Seems like you've grown up a little."

"R-Really, you think so? Er-I mean, yeah, of course I've grown up! My voice is way deeper and I'm taller and stronger now so now you can't push me around anymore!"

She ruffled his hair. "I think that's pushing it, kid."

"Hey! Well, you've changed too, A2!"

"Nice try, but I'm not a human so I physically can't change."

"Not like that, I've noticed that you're smiling a lot more, which is kind of creepy, and you even smell like a girl now!"

Her face darkened. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Usually you smell like alcohol and machine oil, but now you smell like perfume...wait, wait, wait! A-Are you in a relationship, A2?! Is that why you've changed so much?!"

"Am in a..." She shook Sora back and forth. "No, you idiot! Your girlfriend hugged me, that's why I smell like vomit!"

"My...girlfriend?"

"Yeah, some red-head girl and a guy with silver hair are looking for you right now and I'm pretty sure the girl either wants to murder you in cold blood or screw you, which I'd say elicits the same feeling."

"Seriously?! Kairi and Riku are here?!"

"Right, that was their names."

"Oh my gosh! AND Kairi said she was my girlfriend! This is so awesome!" He danced around in place like a dork, until he stopped on a dime with a sudden realization." ...at least I think it is, what do you mean wants to either murder or 'screw me', now you're the one speaking in complicated words A2!"

"Wait, you...you don't know?" ' _Then again this is Sora we're talking about.'_ A2 decided the best plan of action was to wave it off. "That's a conversation you should have with someone who knows what they're talking about."

"So you finally admit you don't know what you're talking about, huh?"

"Still a smartass, guess you won't grow out of that."

"That's not changing anytime soon, but I guess you are right about one thing A2, Kairi probably does want to murder me since I left her alone like that. I bet I worried her sick...aw, I'd murder me too if I were her!"

"Eh, I've murdered someone for less."

"...but how did Kairi and Riku even get to this world in the first place?"

"They walked? They're from the other side of Earth apparently, you really had 2B and 9S fooled huh."

"Uh, yeah, I sure did!" ' _No, they must have used the same dark portal that the heartless created in order to reach this world. And we are in the apartment complex, so it must be around here somewhere.'_ Sora circled around the area a couple of times until he found smoky black tendril slithering out from a pile of machine corpses. After pushing their dismembered heads and body parts out of the way, he found the bridge between Earth and the world beyond the androids.

"What the hell is that?" A2 reached her hand over to the accumulation of swirling darkness, but Sora stopped her.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He aimed his keyblade at the dark portal then enunciated 'stopga' and 'bind' in succession. ' _There, that should at least hold off the heartless until me, Riku and Kairi can close it off for good when we leave this world.'_

"Come on A2, we have to go find Riku and Kairi! Where was the last place you saw them?"

"About that.. 2B's gonna kill me when she sees me again since she's with them."

"Uh, when doesn't she want to kill you?"

"Good point. I'll lead the way."

But just as they were starting to leave, out of nowhere, an android pounced on A2 and stabbed her in the shoulder, narrowly missing her chest. "I knew I smelled the scent of a traitor!" The android bounced off A2, then landed across from her. "My sword's been hungry for the blood of an android for a while, I'm sure even the dirty blood of a traitor will satisfy its craving!"

"7-70B! What're you doing here?!" Sora cried.

"I'm doing my job."

He tugged on her arm. "I won't let you hurt her, stop this or I'll have to fight you too!"

She snatched her arm away. "Pod, program R027: Chain, charge level two."

Energy condensed into the shape of chain links wrapped around Sora, restraining him to the ground. "Arggh! Some friend you are, I can't believe I actually trusted you, 70B!"

"...My name is 70E and I'm going to show you what happens when you hang around with a fugitive. Executing her was our mission from the beginning."

"Another pursuer, huh? This should be fun," A2 said, she pressed her hand over the deep gash in her shoulder. ' _My self-recovery should be booting up anytime now.'_  "You're more reckless than the other ones. That must explain why your face is fucked up I take."

"Heh, you're right on the money. Lucky for you the other ones aren't like me." 70E ran her tongue along the blade of her sword sullied by A2's blood. "I find so much enjoyment in killing androids like you~"

"Yeah? Good for you." A2 drew out her Type-3 sword and aggressively charged at 70E. In a surprising move, 70E fell back on defense, contrary to the confrontational attitude she displayed prior and kept Iron Will close to her body. "Fight me since you want to kill me so bad!"

"Why ruin the moment?" She maneuvered past another sword swing. "You are Attacker Number 2 after all, YoRHa's most wanted android. I've done my research and now I get the honor of  _finally_  killing a bombshell like you!"

70B finally clashed blades with A2, grinning wildly now. "Aw, what's wrong? Isn't this what you want?" She pressed the razor-sharp blade on A2's sword with enough force to make an indention. "Beneath that tough girl facade, you've always wanted to die so you can be with your worthless friends, right? You used to HATE fighting, now you're just waiting for someone to cut you down because you're too much of a coward to do it yourself! And I'm just the one to finish the job!"

A2's sword snapped in half under the immense weight of 70E's sword and she made another deep slash across her chest. A2 staggered backwards, giving 70E the perfect opportunity to pin her on the ground. "Don't worry Number 2, I'll make it all stop!"

"一Why don't you stop, 70E!" Sora yelled. "A2 may be a fugitive, but unlike you, her heart has always been in the right place! So I promise...I'll fight you with all my heart!"

"Pod, amp it up to charge level 3 and gag him," 70E turned back to A2. "Now, where did we leave off? Oh, now I remember- killing you." She raised her sword to her neck, but before she was able to 'finish the job', A2 jabbed her heels into her stomach, pushing her off.

"Damn it," 70E briefly recoiled in pain from her attack. "...Pod, initiate program R050: Spear!"

A line of spears shot up from the ground one by one, while A2 was busy backing away from them, 70E moved to behind A2 and swung Iron Will around in an attempt to slice her midsection, but A2 stayed on top of her and used her engine blade sword to block the attack. "Is that it? No matter how many models they make, they'll never live up to the original." She knocked 70E's sword back, then quickly gained the upper hand, overwhelming her until the roles were reversed and now A2 had her pinned to the ground with a sword to her neck.

"Why...why even bother killing me?! They'll just make a new model, it's pointless!"

"You're a psycho who gets off on killing androids, one of you is enough."

"Ouch." She smirked. "Those are some biting  _last words_."

"Last words? What the hell are you-"

"一A2! Watch out!"  
 _  
_' _That's Sora's voice.'_ But before A2 could register what was happening, Sora jumped in front of her and cast protectga, shielding her from the barrage of lasers that would've wiped her off the face of the Earth otherwise. When A2 fully turned around, she realized they were completely surrounded by the rest of the Type-E YoRHa androids.

"Oh god, show me that look on your face, A2! I bet it's 一" It took 70E's head getting cut off for her to finally shut up and A2 picked up her swords for her own possession.

' _Now these are some nice weapons.'_  "Sora, let me take care of them!"

"Alone?!"

"I haven't got to show off in front of you yet!" A2 went straight into Berserk mode, granting her a boost in speed that allowed her to quickly dodge the first onslaught of androids.

' _Sora, if the other humans are anything like you, then I'll continue to fight this never-ending battle.'_ Switching gears, she spun Iron Will around her in a circle, tearing through the synthetic flesh of androids as if it had the fortitude of paper, then used the massive blade to shield against the bullet hell from their pods.

Meanwhile, Sora hid behind a pile of machine remains while he watched the bloodshed from afar. ' _There's so much blood on her.'_  It was clear that the other androids weren't of the same caliber as 70E because A2 fought them off with such skill and efficiency, it was as if she could predict their own moves before they could. Although they caught her off guard a couple of times, the roughness of A2's fighting style had evolved to be more refined, agile, taking cues off Sora's own fighting style and incorporating it into her own technique.

Then it was over and the Type-E androids were dead.

"—There you are." A2 walked up to Sora, her body was drenched in android blood, although he wasn't sure if it was from the Type-E androids or the bullet holes riddled throughout her arms and legs. Regardless, he cast cure on her for good measure, then washed away the blood with water and he could see the smile from her face had disappeared.

"Why did you look scared?" She asked.

"Well, you were kind of scary with all that blood on you. I know it was out of self-defense, but I don't really think those other androids were bad people either, except 70E I guess. I just wish you guys wouldn't have to fight each other."

"You're telling me, but I don't get to pick and choose my battles. Besides, they're still androids, it's not like they won't be rebuilt again in the future so they can try and murder me again."

"That's good...er- not for you! But you know what I mean, right?"

"No."

"Oh...sorry, I'm still just an ignorant human after all this time, but I still want to end your guy's suffering somehow." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm rambling again, my bad, uh so what about all that stuff 70E said to you? About you wanting to die and everything, that wasn't true was it?"

"It was, but it's different now."

"A2! How come you never told me, we could've talked about your feelings!" He tried to tackle hug A2, but she swiftly dodged him.

"That's why," She let out a sigh in defeat. "Sora, just keep being your annoying self and I'll be okay."

"Really? You mean it?"

"I do, that shouldn't be too hard for you, right?"

"No problem! I'll be extra annoying from now on so you'll be extra okay!"

"Then you're going to be  _extra_  dead."

"Heh heh, and that's the part of you that hasn't changed."

"Yep. Ready to find your friends?"

"Of course! Let's go already!"

Sora and A2 returned to the now deserted YoRHa base camp, but once they reached the entrance, an android emerged from behind several loading crates to prevent from leaving. "S-Stop! I'm not going to let you go any further with Sora!" Although the spear was shaking in his hands, 42S's grasp on the handle was firm and his conviction was clear.

"Run along or you'll be next," A2 said.

"You...you killed them! You even killed 70B...no, Sora, how could align yourself with someone like her when she's clearly evil!"

"Why do I have to choose what side I'm on when I just want to protect my friends!"

"You don't get to  _not_  choose a side when so many of us have died for you and yet... you can't even acknowledge any of our sacrifices! I thought we were friends, Sora! You were the only one who listened to me, but I guess none of that meant anything to you..."

"Of course it meant something to me! We can still be friends 42S, it doesn't have to be like this!"

"I can NEVER be friends with someone who's betrayed YoRHa! How selfish do you have to be to fight against the people who are trying to save you!"

"A2's the one who saved me, all your Commander's ever done is trap me and try to use me!" He shook his head. "Listen 42S, I promised to protect you guys from the heartless and everything I've done has always been for that reason, no matter the side!"

42S lowered his spear down to his side. "Then tell me Sora...does betraying your friends mean being human too? Because maybe they should all just stay on the moon where they belong." He pushed past Sora and A2 with the intent to save his friends.

"..."

"Don't listen to that brat, they're all like that until they realize their Commander's using them. You're doing what you can for what you believe is right, that's enough."

"But it's not! I know my heart is strong enough to protect everyone if I try hard enough, so why does everything I do just blow up in my face!"

"Because this world is complicated and throwing your sword around isn't going to fix everything. Throw your sword around at what it  _can_  fix and keep going. You just can't save everyone."

''...No, I'm not going to give up, even if I fail, that doesn't mean it's not worth trying." Driven by a new sense of conviction, he continued with his current path, intent on saving his own friends and carrying the burden of salvaging a world not worth saving.

' _What type of optimistic bullshit is he on this time? Whatever, as long as it stops him from moping.'_  A2 followed Sora and they traveled out of the desert together, just as they had once before.

As they drew closer to the limits of the desert where the outline of skyscrapers came into view above the horizon, Sora noticed something that made him suddenly run ahead. "Hey, hold on Sora!" A2 chased after him to the last stretch of the desert where the City Ruins began and she saw the thousands of heartless overflowing in the city, plaguing the land with darkness. "Shit...maybe we should just stay in the desert."

"No..." Sora gripped his keyblade. "This is what I'm fighting for."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**『** **You're All I Ever Think About** **』**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the finale to route A/B, I can't believe I got this far because I haven't hit a 20 chapter story in 2 years, now let's see if I can actually finish this all the way through. But I'm excited to drop everything I got planned next chapter whenever I get around to actually start writing it. The real curse is the curse of procrastination.


	21. Weight [O]f The World

"Just a reminder, you are not allowed to go on your designated break until you've completed your regularly scheduled contact. We keep track of these things so don't skimp out on your duties, is that clear?"

The screen went blank once she closed all the windows cluttering the monitor space, a few keystrokes later and 'INCOMING CALL' flashed on the blank monitor screen. "Operator 21O to 9S, this is your regularly-scheduled contact."

9S: "Everything's fine Operator, look I can't really talk right now- [End Transmission]."

' _He rushed me off, that was unexpected.'_

After the operators finished their last rounds of regularly-scheduled contacts, they began migrating out of the mission control center, all except Operator 21O who stayed fixated on her monitor. ' _I'm just his operator, if he's acting out, it's not my problem.'_  She pulled open all the windows she recently closed, scrolling through the raw data. ' _I've been able to learn more about familial units from this data 9S sent me, but it's unfortunate the actual humans haven't been much help in this regard.'_

An android snuck up from behind Operator 21O and placed her hands on her shoulders. "21Oooooo~" She cooed.

"Operator 6O," She said, recognizing her in an instant. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, how come you're not going on break?"

"It's unnecessary since I actually enjoy doing my work, unlike some androids."

"Wha- wha-, that's not true! I love talking to 2B just not ...anything else. Besides, the Commander says we're getting ready for a big project so we're gonna have to be working longer shifts from now on."

"Like I said, I don't mind."

"What's so important that you have to lose some R & R?"

"Lately I've been researching human familial units. 9S went ahead and collected some data for me since I've been quite curious about the concept of 'families'."

"Aw that was sweet of him, I have to admit, I'm not super familiar with families either. They're just a unit of related individuals, right?"

"In technical terms yes, but I wonder..." She shook her head. "Nevermind, it's silly."

"No, you can tell me, I won't laugh."

"...I just wonder how it feels to be in a family and the connection you have with them, if you would have any at all."

"Maybe you should get a girlfriend, you sound kind of lonely."

"I'm being serious 6O...or perhaps it's just that we don't have the capacity to understand since we're not human."

"No, no, no, that was definitely a joke! I think whatever you're looking for, you already have it right here. If it's just the feeling you're after, you don't need to be human to understand you have a deep connection with someone."

"I suppose, but it feels like the more data I receive, the less I understand about humans."

*ALERT*

*ALERT*

?-?-?:  _Emergency Protocol, code F2. All YoRHa members are to report to combat stations immediately._

?-?-?:  _Repeat. Emergency Protocol, code F2. All YoRHa members are to report to combat stations immediately._

* * *

From where Eve stood, the world was small and insignificant. He crouched down, staring at the mass of heartless he unleashed upon the City Ruins. Soon, it would be swallowed by the darkness and everything would disappear, a thought that put a smile on his face despite the misery he was drowning in.

"Brother...all I've ever wanted was to be by your side and yet you gave everything up for these heartless. Are they really the answer to what you've been searching for in humanity?" He raised his head up to the sky, the only place that remained unscathed from the heartless. "Guess there's only one way to find out."

The blue sky was blackened out by a massive demon tide composed of hundreds of shadows. It split into two halves, then scattered throughout the City Ruins in search of hearts to consume. Of course, no heart was more desirable than from those who wielded the keyblade and so the heartless made their way to the Resistance Camp where 2B, Riku and Kairi had taken refuge.

Pod 042: Transmission to Bunker failed. Error: Information overload of the system. Proposal: Retry contacting the Bunker after enough time has elapsed to fix connectivity issues.

"Huh, that's a new one," 2B paced around the Resistance Camp, unsure of what to do to pass the time. Kairi and Riku watched the frustrated android, themselves carelessly wandering around with little else to do when their fates were tied to the processor of a tiny robot.

"Ah," Riku's face scrunched up in disgust.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked.

"I can smell the darkness, and it's a strong scent."

"Really? But I don't see any heartless around here."

"Then that means they're hiding..." But he trailed off when he saw Popola emerge from the back of the Resistance Camp holding several crates worth of supplies stacked up on top of each other. ' _It's those two from before, maybe they've encountered a few heartless in the back.'_ "Hey..." He began to say, approaching her.

"13S! It's so good to see you again!" Popola dropped the crates she was carrying to greet him. "Aw, did A2 ditch you guys?"

"—It was more like the other way around," 2B said, walking up from behind them.

"That's too bad, it seemed like you two were getting along."

"That was never the case. A2 will always be an enemy to YoRHa."

She let out a sigh. "Whatever you say 2B, but you're being surprisingly friendly towards this Ex-YoRHa guy. Care to explain?"

"What?"

"-Uh, hey, did you happen to catch anything suspicious around the camp?" Riku asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"No, I wasn't back there for very long, but my sister's still gathering supplies from a trader so she'll probably be more helpful. Why...is something wrong?"

"There is, you should go check on your sister to make sure she's okay."

"Oh- okay." She stepped away, then disappeared into the back again, but Riku's slight diversion didn't get him off the hook from 2B.

"So you're Ex-YoRHa then?" 2B asked.

"No- I..." ' _I guess there's no point in keeping it a secret anymore.'_  "I'm a human just like Sora and Kairi."

She was still unphased. "You're not just saying that to get out of me killing you, are you? Pod, run an analysis to make sure."

Pod 042: Running...Analysis complete. The analysis concludes that he is, in fact, human in the same regards as "Sora" and "Kairi", therefore he is telling the truth.

"...Another human?" But 2B didn't have time to dwell on the revelation because a sudden, ear-piercing scream tore her attention away elsewhere. "That sounds like trouble."

2B, Riku and Kairi summoned their respective weapons and a wave of heartless washed out into the main campgrounds. "And there it is," 2B said.

"Kairi, ready?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, let's do this!"

"-2B! Help me get everyone out of here!" Anemone called out to 2B, running up to her.

"Roger that!"

While Riku and Kairi fought off the heartless, 2B helped Anemone evacuate the resistance androids, but they too were faced with a vicious attack on their end from invading machines. The once peaceful machines had now reverted back to their original factory setting and their bloodshot eyes scanned for the nearest android to ravage and satisfy their uncontrollable bloodlust.

"Are they...eating them?!" 2B threw herself into the fray of machines and androids, slicing and blasting off as many machine heads as she could. It didn't take long for 2B to reduce most of the machines to waste, then in amidst of combat, they were devoured by the heartless Riku and Kairi were fighting off, creating a horrifying amalgamation of darkness and machinery.

"I'm getting tired of these damned things," 2B said.

"2B, don't worry! We got your back," Riku said.

"—ALL OF YOU STAND BACK!"

Anemone with a fully loaded shotgun slung over her shoulder and a bandolier of hand grenades strapped around her chest riddled the monster's body with enough bullet holes to keep it busy regenerating itself while she regrouped with 2B, Riku, and Kairi. "One of you humans needs to go rescue the twins, the rest of us are going to fight these bastards off!"

"I'll go back to save them." Riku shoved his hand in his pocket, then threw an ether for Kairi. "That should be enough. Later."

"Taking charge already," 2B said.

"What can I say? I'm a natural-born leader." Anemone reloaded more ammo into her shotgun, then aimed it at the monster as it was on the cusps of returning to form. "Now let's kill this thing!"

With a fully-regenerated body, the monster flung its massive arms at the girls, but it was a slow enough move for them to dodge and go in for an attack. 2B and Kairi went for close-range sword strikes while Anemone covered long-range offense. In order to prevent an early death, the monster thought ahead and encased its body in metal, rendering their attacks ineffective.

"That armor's going to be tough to break through," Kairi said.

"Then we'll have to take it down a notch. Redhead, 2B, back me up, I have an idea," Anemone said.

"Got it," 2B said.

"We're right behind you!"

Anemone moved in closer to the monster and in response, it spat out dark spheres encased in metal. They were fast-moving projectiles, but with 2B and Kairi working together, they sliced through each of the dark spheres so Anemone could keep moving forward and she threw her grenades at the concrete columns over the monster, causing it to collapse on top of it.

"Now finish the job!" Anemone said to Kairi.

Without the metal armor protecting it, Kairi's 'Firaga' perpetually burned until the ground where the monster once stood was charred black. As a pink heart rose from the smoke, Kairi lowered her keyblade to the ground and breathed out a sigh of relief. "There...how was that?"

Anemone slapped Kairi on the back, almost knocking the wind out of her. "Good job, Redhead!"

"My name's not- ugh, nevermind, thanks. At least it's over now."

"Not yet. Those machines have never acted so violently before, I suspect there's more going on beneath the surface."

Kairi scoffed. "They're machines. What do you expect? This is all they do..."

"—Kairi, 2B!" Riku finally returned with Devola and Popola in his arms so Anemone ran over to them.

"How are they?" She asked.

"Not good. I healed them the best I could, but they need medical attention."

"...I see, well thank you for saving them at least. I'll take over now."

"No problem," He turned to 2B and Kairi. "Whatever's going on, we have to deal with it before more people get hurt. The presence of darkness is strong, but I can tell it's from one concentrated source."

"Then lead the way," 2B said.

However, when they left the Resistance Camp, they were faced with the stark reality that the City Ruins were long gone. Heartless crawled over every inch of space, drowning the city in a sea of darkness that swept up everything in its wake. All except the towering goliath class machines who followed the dying orders of their extraterrestrial creators to defeat the enemy, even in a world as far gone as their own.

They surrounded 2B , Riku and Kairi, preventing them from progressing any further until the goliath machines could either fulfill those orders or die in the process and by the relentless way 2B attacked them, their fates were sealed in the latter category. The moment 2B was done making scrap metal out of the machines and it seemed like they could move forward, her pod received a transmission.

Pod 042: "2...2B! 2B can you hear me, our village is under- Aaaaaah!"

"Pascal? Come in, Pascal- shit!" 2B whipped her head back. "Riku, Kairi, we have to go to Pascal's Village,  _now_!"

—

Bolts of lightning tore out of swirling black clouds and obliterated huge swaths of clustered heartless, clearing a path forward for Sora and A2 as they stormed the City Ruins. Sora turned to A2, grinning after his latest display of magic, "My magic's pretty strong now, huh? I can pull off a Thundaza finisher now!" He boasted.

"We're in a goddamn warzone, be serious!"

"I am- I am!"

"Then act like it dumbass- watch out!" She yanked him back, then slashed through a heartless, which did nothing more than destroy its physical form.

"You know your attacks aren't effective against the-"

"That was an automatic response! Maybe if you stopped being so oblivious, then I wouldn't have to keep saving your ass!"

"Look A2, I got things under control! I've fought this many heartless before twice already, a third time around should be a piece of cake!"

"A  _third_  time around?!" She stomped on a heartless biting at her leg. "Why the hell are these things even here in the first place?!"

"Not sure, guess we'll find out soon enough!" He raised his keyblade for another powerful magic spell, but A2 stopped him.

"Hold on, I think you should take care of that thing first-" A2 pointed her sword at the sky where a demon tide was speeding down towards Sora. So he switched initiatives and used 'Firaga' once it got within range, then relied on Wheel of Fate to dish out devastating combo attacks. Right when he was on the verge of slaying the demon tide, it suddenly pulled back and left for the opposite direction.

"We have to go follow those heartless!" Sora took off with A2 following closely behind and they soon ended up at the metal barrier separating the ends of the City Ruins to the beginning of Pascal's Village, where two demon tides rapidly twirled around one another until they converged into one giant demon tide. Readying his keyblade, Sora charged for the demon tide, but before his blade could make contact with the heartless, two other keyblade wielders jumped in front of him and took down the demon tide.

"Riku...Kairi..."

Without another moment of hesitation, Riku and Kairi returned to Sora and the three of them shared in a long-awaited group hug.

"Sora...we've been searching for you so long," Riku said. "And now we're finally back together."

"I was so worried about you Sora...I was starting to think you'd never come back." Kairi pressed her head down on Sora's chest, desperately missing the warmth of his embrace. "Don't ever leave us like that again, you big jerk."

"..."

"Sora?"

Sora was too choked up to convey any words because all he ever wanted, all he ever dreamed about was standing right there in front of him and it evoked such indescribable relief out of him to see that his friends were okay.

"I'm sorry...I..." His vision started getting blurrier and blurrier until he could see small teardrops forming on the ground. ' _I never realized how truly happy they make me.'_ When they let go of each other, Sora quickly wiped his tears away, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of them, but Kairi was already on the verge of tears while Riku went into overprotective friend mode.

"It's okay, we're here now Sora and we're not going to leave you." Riku placed his hand on his shoulder. "Everything will be fine from now on, alright?"

"Alright..." He sniffled. "I missed you guys."

"We did too."

"Sorry, but we have to keep moving, this fight isn't over yet," 2B said, her words had grounded Sora back in reality and with his friends finally by his side, he remembered everything that was at stake.

"You're right. We need to figure out who's controlling the heartless," Sora said.

"They're being controlled by a machine named Eve, there's no questioning it."

"Eve, huh? Then that's who we need to take down so he'll no longer have any control over the heartless."

"Pod, I need you to locate Eve's current position."

Pod 042: Location has been detected and placed on map.

"Is everyone ready to go?" She asked.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi all nodded to each other, then summoned their keyblades.

A2 stepped forward. "I'm coming and you're not going to stop me."

"I wasn't planning to. Now let's go."

And so they pressed forward into the fray of heartless.

Pod 042: "B̶͎͂͠ŗ̷̑o̵͍͆͐t̸̡̯͋̓̾h̵͙̞̓ē̵̩͊̍ŕ̴̠͙͈̇̌.̸̲̼̳̆̋.̸̲̻͋̍͂ͅ.̷̉ͅḂ̸̨̫́͆r̴͔̫̪̂͊̃ò̵̩̣͜t̴̡̼͊ͅh̷̼̎̇ͅė̵͖͙̀r̶̳͒.̴͓͛̌.̴̭̈.̴͚̹̙̉̄͋W̵͕̘̕H̸͓̯͋͒Ý̷̱̙̕?!"

"What the hell was that?" A2 asked.

"It's Eve interfering with the signal, we've almost reached him-" 2B slid to a stop at the cliff overlooking the center of the City Ruins where the ground caved in. "We'll have to jump, get ready!"

The androids immediately jumped off the cliff and Sora, Kairi and Riku would've done the same if it weren't for Kairi's own fear holding her back. "Hold on...I...I'm sorry. I-I've been trying to put on a brave face, but deep down I'm still terrified of everything that's happened...I mean...what if we don't make it and we're separated again?"

"That's not going to happen, Kairi." Sora wrapped his hand over Kairi's, giving it a tight squeeze. "I'm never going to leave you alone again."

 _'Somehow, that's all he needed to say for me to believe in myself.'_  She squeezed his hand back. "Then we'll go together."

They took a leap of faith and dove right into the eye of the storm, landing within a small area where 2B and A2 stood. It was strangely devoid of any heartless, all except one who sat still on a construction block from a long destroyed building, staring off into nothingness.

"Ah...and here you are." Eve revolved his head around to meet them. "Look at all of you...humans...androids and me... a machine. It doesn't matter what you are, everything in this world is utterly meaningless."

Heartless began circling around them in a perpetual storm, trapping them inside while the darkness crawled over Eve's body. "My brother was everything, he was my world...so now...EVERYTHING MUST DIE!"

But before anyone could move, or think, or even breathe, a flight unit crashed right into Eve, completely obliterating the machine body, while 9S ejected out of the unit. As per usual, 2B ran over and caught him in her arms, "Even for you that was pretty insane, you okay 9S?"

"Ha ha...yeah...good thing I ...landed a... direct hit."

"In the most anticlimactic way possible..." A2 said under her breath.

"Nines! It's so good to see you again," Sora said. "That move you did was awesome!"

"Hey Sora," 9S managed to stand up on his feet. "Even a scanner android like me has to show off sometimes."

But their victory was short-lived.

The sun turned black like sackcloth full of hair, darkening their entire world. Everything, the sky, the ground, even the buildings were lost in the darkness. And then Eve rose out of the shadows, reborn as a heartless with stretched out bat wings, monstrous horns and heavy chains wrapped around his body. His tattoo now covered all of his body and his face had a permanent, toothy grin, a truly demonic body manifested from his desire to bring the world to ruin.

"T̵͍͙͘Ȟ̸̖̀E̴̯̎̈R̶̭̫͊̕Ẹ̶͑͝ ̵̣̥̀̆W̶͇̆Ï̶̢͇L̵͇̭̔L̸͎̗̀ ̶̥̚B̵̙̀̕Ẹ̵̫͂̓ ̸̮̺́͌N̴̢̟͝O̷̲͌̀T̶͖̃H̶͕̑̕͜Ḭ̶̖̏Ñ̴͖G̴͙̔ ̵̞̔L̸̺̲̈̓É̸͚̤̆F̵̙̦̓̃T̵̟̈!̴̙͚̓͒"

Shadowy limbs squirmed out from oblivion and snaked around everyone's body, pulling them down into the darkness. Sora tried to break free, but their hold on him was too tight and he was forced to watch all of his friends sink into the shadows until he fell to the same fate.

_So what? This is supposed to be the part where I just give up and die, right?_

_But there's too much to live for._

_Kairi._

_Riku._

_A2._

_2B._

_9S._

_Even while I'm surrounded by darkness, slowly fading away, I still see a world that's worth risking everything for._ _I know I'm just one person, but I'll save every one of us._

Using the light guide him, Sora clawed out of the shadows with a new keyblade clenched in between his teeth that would grant him the power to overcome the darkness; Weight of the World. Two YoRHa-Issue blades served as the key's shaft and teeth, while a rusted machine arm supported its weight as a handle and a black box keychain dangled off a heavy chain link. Manipulator fields circled around the keyguard, illuminating the keyblade against the black world.

Suiting a new set of jet black clothes along with a visor blindfold, Sora fully transformed into Oblivion form and bolted towards Eve. However, Eve vanished into thin air before Sora could make contact, then reappeared right in front of him, snatching him by the head and slamming him down on the ground.

Like any demon borne from the depths of hell, Eve could spew out fire. A power, while devastating, took time to charge up, giving Sora the opportunity to counterattack with blizzard and freeze his head in a block of ice.

 _'I can't believe that actually worked!'_  The few seconds before Eve instantly melted down the ice, Sora broke free of his hold, then slashed him straight across the chest until Eve grabbed his sword and flung him up in the air.

Eve immediately spat out multiple fireballs, so Sora used barrier midair to block Eve's attack. Right after, Sora fired back full throttle with the shotlock command; Tempered Resolve and blasted three powerful lasers at Eve. Although Eve was able to dodge the lasers, he didn't have time to react to Sora's follow up attack and suffered another blow down the middle of his body.

With another hit on Eve, Sora powered up into his first transformation; Ex-Machina and his keyblade rebuilt itself into two giant machine arms. They traded blow after blow with each other until Eve restrained Sora with his shadow limbs and kicked him hard enough to send him crashing into one of the buildings.

"Ugh...I can barely feel anything..." Sora used curaga to wash the bitter taste of blood out of his mouth, but even after he healed himself, he could still see three copies of Eve approaching him. He wasn't sure if it was from his vision going out of sync or if he actually cloned himself.

Not wanting to stay a second longer to find out, Sora struggled to his feet, then ran away as fast as the bulky machine arms would allow him to, all while keeping his target locked Eve. The moment Sora gathered enough distance, the two machine hands unfastened from the arms and launched directly at Eve and his clones.

While the demons evaded the initial attack, the machine hands were equipped with homing devices that circled around to destroy both of Eve's clones from behind. The original Eve managed to avoid being hit by flying high up into the air out of range where he lit his hands on fire and rushed down to Sora, picking up immense velocity on his descent for a devastating attack.

 _'Not good! I can't stay here or I'm a goner!'_  But Eve's shadow limbs prevented Sora from escape and just when things were starting to look bleaker than they already were for him, black lightning bolts electrocuted Eve.

"I told you everything will be fine from now on!" Riku landed in front of Sora and intercepted the attack between him and Eve.

Sora couldn't help, but crack a small smile. "What took you so long?"

"Seemed like you were handling yourself pretty well out there without us. Now it's our turn to help you out Sora-" Riku pushed Eve back, then attempted to cut through him, but he quickly flew away. Unknowingly leaving himself open to A2 attacking from behind and forcing him back down.

Once he was grounded, 2B and 9S aimed their pods at him to finish him for good, but Eve wouldn't surrender to his fate without a fight. He flew all the way up in the sky, maneuvering past all the pod lasers and magic spells sent his way, not stopping until he was suspended above the hairy sackcloth that was the sun.

"I̴̡̲͠ ̴̳̼͂͑W̶̡̡͈̼̱͓͆̑͒͒̎͝Ȋ̸̧̱̳͈̦̼͘L̴̟̝̱͔̗̞̒̊̈́̉L̸̡̰̗̫̋̋̅̃ ̴̧̖̣̥͑̽̿̐̐͗E̶͉͓͓̎N̶̼͗D̴̮̪̔̅̑̋͆̚ ̶͔̃͊̈́̈́͠͠T̵̛͉͒͛̿̾H̴̨͇͍̣͊Ǐ̵̺͎͌̈͝S̷̫̃̍̑̊̚͠ ̸̝̘̯͎̓̔͋͒ͅẆ̴̝̇̂O̴̟̰̖͐̑̔͒̈́R̷̟̜̒̓̀̈̓͌͜ͅL̸̻̦̮̗͍̾D̶̡̜̣̙̥͈͒̄ ̵̼̰̠̙̼̗̆̀͆͛͆̾O̴̜̊͋͘N̷̫̫͑̒̏͐͠͝C̵̻͍͂͜͜Ẻ̴̛̜͉̲͓͉̯̐̊͝ ̴͚̻̘̓̌͑A̶͖̍̅̾͒̾̕Ņ̶̍D̵͖̰͍̝̅͑͜͠͝ ̴̛̼̼̂͑F̷̡͈̰͙̯̀͊̎̒Ò̶̙̟͓͔ͅͅȒ̸̦̽́̃̍̄ ̸̙͉̈́̾̿A̶͚̲̼͑͆͜͝L̴̨̧̟̘̗̿̄̐͆̊L̷̲̩̹̓́̈!"

Eve transformed into an enormous black dragon with seven heads and thirteen horns. He descended upon them, each of his seven dragon heads bared its fangs and converged together to breathe out an enormous fire large enough to consume the entire city.

"Riku, Kairi, let's go!" Sora yelled. Together, they aimed their keyblades at the fire and formed a combined 'waterga' spell the size of an ocean wave, dousing out the red flames and blanketing the city in a thin veil of mist.

"So how the hell are we gonna kill this thing?!" A2 asked.

"You kill a dragon by cutting off its head," Riku said.

"I like the sound of that!"

"Uh- that's way easier said than done, how are we even supposed to get up there?!" Kairi said.

"We'll use the buildings." He motioned to the massive skyscrapers falling downwards as Eve swiped his tail around in the sky. "Everyone split up by two, we'll attack him three ways."

The six of them split up into three, two-person teams and took off to the surrounding skyscrapers, scaling the building while evading falling debris and the occasional fireball. Sora and Riku were the first ones to reach the top of their respective building, Riku used Zantetsuken to slice off the first head while Sora cut through the second.

They were followed up by 2B and 9S, then A2 and Kairi, who cut down the other heads until only one remained and Eve was determined not to die so he flew higher in the air so it could breathe out more city burning fire. "Sora, you got this?" Riku asked.

"Yeah!" Taking aim, Sora used airstep to close the distance between him and Eve, then drove Weight of the World straight through his skull. "THIS IS OVER EVE! AAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Brother...I see it now."

Eve lost his grasp on the darkness and light flooded back into the world. There he was, on his knees, slowly withering away into oblivion. He lifted his head and saw Sora standing above him. "Brother...Brother...I'll see you again, won't I?" When he reached his hand out to Sora, the androids stabbed him three ways through his body and his head.

And then he was gone.

Nothing.

Nobody.

"Finally...it's over..." 2B said, pulling her sword out.

"Yeah, it is...we did it." Sora started to fall forward, but Riku caught him and lifted him to his feet.

"Are you ready to go home, Sora?" He asked.

"Not yet...not until I say goodbye to my friends."

Chuckling, he let Sora go. "Go ahead."

Sora faced the androids. "A2, 2B, Nines...being here with you guys has made this entire journey worth it, so...thank you for being there for me when I was alone. If this isn't the last time we'll see each other, then we should all meet up again in the future!"

"Feel free to come back anytime, and when this war is over, you can show 9S and I around the shopping center," 2B said.

"You ... remembered that, 2B?" 9S asked.

"Of course, and it's not like we'll have much else to do once all the machines are gone."

"Oh...right..." He shook his head to distract himself from falling back into another existential crisis. "Sora, wherever you go, don't stop thinking about us androids down here! And you should definitely bring your friends back!"

"Maybe when there really are no more machines on Earth, so we don't have to fear for our lives all the time," Kairi said with a wry smile.

"With Eve gone, I'm sure the Commander's already planning a counterattack against the machines," 2B said. "9S, you and I should be returning back to the bunker within the day, she's going to want to hear this."

"Definitely, but could you leave out the part where I crashed that expensive flight unit? Doubt she'll be happy about that."

"We'll see."

All A2 heard were empty voices as she slowly realized she may very well never see Sora again and she hopelessly stared at him, trying to think of she could say, but her mental processor only drew blanks. Which to Sora, looked like she was simply shooting daggers at him.

"Come on A2," Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Why do you always look like you want to kill me? I could never forget you...even if I wanted to!"

"Whatever."

"Aw A2, you're gonna miss me, right?"

"Sure, I'll miss bullying you around, but that's about it, you piss me off with pretty much everything else."

"Yep. Nothing new."

"Heh, you know me so well...that's why you make my life a lot less shitty."

He smiled. "You don't have a way with words, do you?"

She frowned. "And you don't know when to shut the hell up."

"Ah- let me just say one more thing!"

"Go ahead. You've already wasted enough of my time."

"A2...I really am going to miss you. You've been a great friend to me all this time and I'm not sure what I would've done without you in this world."

"Don't say things like that you dumbass!"

"But it's true, I mean it."

"God I can't fucking stand you..."

Without any input of her own, A2 wrapped her arms around Sora and hugged him, totally catching him off guard. Neither of them spoke a word to each other, enjoying the comfortable silence between them, at least until Sora said, "Ah- y-you're crushing me, you're crushing me!"

She let go of him, then switched back to being the usual grumpy A2 he'd grown used to. "You humans are really freakin' annoying, you know that?"

"You've only told me about a million times."

"Then...I guess that'll be the last time you'll hear it..." She smiled at him. "But I'll admit it, I am going to miss you, Sora."

"Me too." He backed away then rejoined Riku and Kairi.

"...You know Sora, you seem kind of different," Kairi said.

"Yeah, guilty as charged. Can't hide how tall and musclely I am now."

"Just barely," Riku said.

"Ha ha, maybe you're not more  _mature_ , but...I think you are more attractive." She stood on her tiptoes, then gave Sora a kiss on the cheek.

Sora's eyes went wide and his entire world spun out of control. About a million things ran through his mind and they were all screaming at him to make the next move, but all he could do was stand there dumbfounded like an idiot. Kairi cusped her hands over his and suddenly the world became clear again, he leaned in close and was about to kiss her full on the lips, but she stopped him. "M...Maybe not while everyone's watching."

2B, 9S, and A2 quickly looked the opposite direction so it wasn't obvious, but it was already too late and pretty much killed the moment. In order to prevent further embarrassment, Sora decided to make a joke out of it. "...I'm just glad you don't want to kill me or anything weird like that, Kairi."

"...What are you talking about?"

"A2 said you wanted to kill me or doing something else...bad with me," He said with such an innocent look on his face.

Riku burst out laughing while Kairi was filled with burning rage. "A2...WHAT THE HELL DID YOU TELL HIM?!"

"Huh? Oh I don't really know. I just don't appreciate you swearing so much, it's so unflattering and immature~"

"Now it's definitely time to go! Bye guys," Sora said.

As A2 watched Sora, Riku and Kairi walk away, her mind wandered off. ' _I think I just realized, my life didn't have meaning until I had someone to share it with.'_  For some reason, her vision was getting blurry and she felt a warm liquid run down her face. ' _Is my body malfunctioning?'_ She kept wiping her eyes, but the tears didn't stop.

' _Don't tell me I'm actually crying over him.'_ And yet it made her so happy. ' _I guess he really does bring out the humanity in me._ _Even if there is a vast difference between androids and humans_ _there's still one thing that we both share.'_

9S also watched Sora, Riku and Kairi walk away, which only evoked more visceral anger out of him. ' _It's not like it matters whether they're here or not because there are no humans left to save.'_ He clenched his fist to stop his hands from shaking. ' _So why do I still feel this overwhelming sadness as they leave? I can't bring myself to hate them, especially not Sora, despite everything that's happened. Maybe the Commander was right in a way, we are only androids.'_

"...9S, are you okay?" 2B asked.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, I just spaced out."

"2B, 9S, you're not going to put me out of my misery?" A2 asked.

"I'm not interested in killing you," 2B said.

"That's a first, why don't we have a drink together to celebrate?"

"I suppose we can spare a few minutes before we need to head back to the Bunker. What do you say, 9S?"

"Sure, I'm all for it."

"Then I know the perfect place," A2 said.

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**『** **You Made Me Feel Hum[A]n,**

 **And Then I [B]ecame One** **』**

Route A-B End

Adapted from: NieR: Automata and Kingdom Hearts

* * *

_I've studied the singularity known as "Sora" ever since he's appeared in this world and all timelines begin and end with him. Or so I thought._

"Aaaand scene."

A peculiar android by the name of 'Accord' stood on top of an abandoned building with a giant suitcase by her side and an ancient book in her hand. "I think that just about covers everything. These androids really know how to emulate human emotion when they want to, I'm almost impressed." She scribbled a note in her book. "I attribute this phenomenon to Sora, of course, but his presence hasn't done any major cosmic damage, so I think that wraps things up with this timeline."

"M1307_E0358_QV: End Record- wait, wait, wait, no that's definitely not right." She flipped through the pages of her book. "Oh no, did I screw something up?! This is not going to go over well with the others if I don't- hold on, I found it. M1307_E0359, so there was a divergence in the timeline after all, whoops, well it can't be that bad."

"..."

"No, wait it's  _that_  bad, well I suppose there's no use in worrying about it now, the future isn't always set in stone." Accord jumped off the building and landed on the dimly lit streets of another nameless city in another nameless world.  _'Much to my surprise, there are actually two singularities, Sora and another individual named 'Adam'. Maybe there's more to this timeline than meets the eye.'_

"Okay, let's do this again, M1307_E0359_QV: Begin Recording."

A sinister smile pursed Adam's lips while he lay still in an alleyway, cloaked in shadows. "Brother...you've joined me."

" _ **Then I saw 'a new heaven and a new earth,'**_

_**for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away."** _

_**Revelation 21:1** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and staying with me throughout route A/B! I can't wait to tackle the rest of the game! So a couple of things, I'm going to post my designs for 'Weight of the World' and its transformations online somewhere, I thought you guys would like a visual. I'll put it on my profile sometime whenever they're done.
> 
> Anyways, the next chapter will come out later than usual, so I guess I'm going on a short hiatus.


	22. Face [M]y Fears

**Commencing System Check. . .**

**Memory Unit: In Process**

" _It'll be easy to find him, we'll just go to wherever the heartless are."_

" _It's just like A2 to run away..."_

" _I don't know why, but you're really familiar, maybe it's because you're scary just like she was. Maybe even scarier!"_

" _I could re-chain your memories because they still existed, if hers are truly gone, then they can't come back."_

" _Whenever we figure out how to get the machines back, your village will be as good as new!"_

" _I don't want data... I want you to be real."_

" _May your heart be your guiding key."_

**Memory Unit: Green**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**All Systems Green**

**Combat Preparations Complete_**

**Location Confirmed: Desert Zone**

**Coordinates: 42.7952° N, 105.0324° E**

Sora, Riku and Kairi were well on their way to the Apartment Complex, although the only direction they had to go off of was their own memory so their journey was taking longer than expected. Not that they minded, as long as they still had each other's company, being lost in a desert wasteland wasn't so bad. Aside from their dwindling resources of course, but Riku was confident they'd get to their destination by day's end.

"Wow Sora...so you've been kidnapped like three times already? Guess you know how it feels to be me, huh...In fact, I already got kidnapped once here so including all the other times, I think that brings my kidnapped total tooooo-" Kairi paused to work out the math in her head. "Four times, five if you count the time Isa took me to their creepy Nobody Castle, but I was already technically kidnapped by Axel... well either way, I'm definitely winning with this one!"

Sora rubbed the back of his head and let out a nervous laugh. "Kairi, I don't think that's something to celebrate..."

"I know, but looking back reminds me of how far I've come. Although I think me and you should be taking after Riku in the future, he's the only one who hasn't been kidnapped before, it's probably the intimidation factor."

"Wha- Kairi, but I'm intimidating too, right?!"

"Um..."

"Riku, back me up! I'm really intimidating, especially when I blast the bad guys with my shotlock and they don't even know what hit 'em!"

"Whatever you say. Hey Kairi, does your gummiphone have any reception, I took a picture of the spot where we entered this world so we'd at least know what to look for, but none of my pictures are loading," Riku said.

"That's strange, once a picture is taken, it automatically downloads into your photo album so it should load with or without reception. Maybe something's wrong with your phone, I'll check mine to make sure," She got out her gummiphone, then clicked on the photo album application. "Oh my gosh...mine are all gone too! Ugh, and I took some really nice ones at the beach, something's definitely wrong here."

"You're telling me, damn, we'll just have to follow the heartless to the source instead." He shoved his gummiphone back into his pocket. "It's just weird that I suddenly can't access my photos anymore when they were working fine a minute ago."

"And this is why you can't trust technology," Sora said.

Riku gave him his usual smirk. "Says the guy who's technology illiterate."

"Hey, I'm still learning! Besides, I've been surrounded by androids and complicated computer stuff so I'm sure some of it's rubbed off on me. Kairi, let me see your gummiphone, maybe I can fix it!"

"Sure, just be careful with it Sora."

But when she handed him the phone, Sora realized the problem ran much deeper than what he was equipped to handle. "Kairi...is this supposed to be all glitchy and stuff?" Before she had the chance to respond, the answer to their connectivity issues lied right below their feet when several small biped machines emerged out from under the sand.

Unlike past models, these machines had extendable necks resembling humans spinal cords with an electromagnetic current running along the column. A feature that would be devastating for androids or anything technological, but meant nothing to a human.

"So these are the guys that's been messing with our signal," Riku said, he brandished his keyblade, which was enough for the machines to start backing away from them when they realized their EMP attacks had no effect on the humans.

However, the machine's fates were sealed the moment Kairi laid eyes on them, her mindset reverted back to when she was in the factory, evoking her innermost human desires to survive. Her keyblade manifested in grasp, then the blade effortlessly slashed through the machine bodies until there was nothing left but scrap metal in the sand. She squeezed her arm to hide how badly it was shaking, then turned back to Sora and Riku. "I'm...I'm sorry...this isn't me."

Sora squeezed Kairi's hand. "It's okay Kairi, I'm here for you no matter what."

She buried her head into his chest. "Take me home, Sora. Far away from here."

"It looks like we're almost there," Riku made a gesture to the cluster of buildings along the horizon. "Those are the apartments."

* * *

Effervescent, bronze liquid sloshed around in a metal container with some of its contents spilling over onto a makeshift table. A2 set the flask down, then stared at 9S who nervously looked the other way. "You haven't touched your drink, 9S."

"Oh uh," He rubbed his neck. "I don't really drink, I'm mostly here for 2B."

A2 scoffed. "I didn't take a hardass like her for being a lightweight." She motioned over to the center of the camp where 2B was drunkenly swinging a stick around at imaginary machines. "Gotta say, it's pretty entertaining."

"Yeah, it comes as a surprise for me too, but I like this side to her..."

"Not sure how a few shots from some cheap booze can get someone so drunk."

"It's a...it's a mystery, huh."

' _Why is he still acting so nervous around me? I guess it's the inherent intimidation factor.'_ "Hey, if you're not gonna drink that then I won't let it go to waste." A2 reached over for his untouched glass, but someone else swiped it off the table and guzzled it down.

"Oh man, this stuff tastes like machine oil, I think you need about 50 of these for it to have any effect."

"Not the best thing to do post-recovery, Dev."

Devola and Popola took their seats at the makeshift table, garnering confused looks from A2 and 9S. "Shouldn't you two be in the infirmary right now, Anemone said the heartless did a number on you," A2 said.

"Not when there's a shop to run, besides I'm feeling pretty good right now. My core functionalities are already at 46%," Devola said.

"Shit, you couldn't even wait until it was at half functionality."

"That's just Dev speaking, I'm going right back to the infirmary after this, but I wanted to see you guys off before everyone goes their separate ways, you know." Popola leaned in. "So tell me everything, was it really true that the world was ending?!"

"It was pretty post apocalypse-y, especially when Eve turned into this huge monster. I had no idea machines were capable of stuff like that," 9S said.

"Uh-huh, meanwhile I thought I was gonna die like three different times. I've been trying to forget that whole thing ever happened, but the only one who's had any luck is 2B," A2 said.

"—Hey- hey! Stop it! Get this crazy android away from me!"

"Oh no, 2B!" 9S shot up out of his seat and ran over to 2B who was attacking the strange resistance woman, thinking she was another machine enemy. "Uh, sorry about her ma'am." He grabbed 2B's arm then pulled her away. "Okay listen 2B, that one's not a machine...even though she does kind of look like one. You already defeated the bad guys, so I'd say this mission is accomplished."

"Mission accomplished? Woo hoo! Now we gotta report to the Commander, Nines!"

He smiled. "Yeah, I think it's about time we go back to the Bunker. She'll be expecting us with all the crazy stuff that's happened."

"Wow, you're always thinking ahead. Then less go to the transportation thing-y!"

"Hold on, that one's ...offline, we should go to the one in the center of the City Ruins instead." ' _Hopefully, that'll give her enough time to sober up.'_

"What-ever you say Nines!" As 2B began walking out of the camp, she tripped over some rubble, but 9S caught her in his arms before her face could get acquainted with the ground.

"You alright? Watch your step next time."

"Uh...you're so warm Nines..."

"Ah-" He quickly puts his hands behind his back, then stepped away from her. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"No, I don't mind. Can you hold my hand so I don't fall again?"

"Y-yeah sure! I-I can do that for you." 9S felt his pulsation rate skyrocketing as he reached his hand over to 2B's. It was the type of rush he only experienced when he was fighting for his life on the battlefield and yet something so simple like holding a girl's hand almost made him short circuit. The funny thing was, the moment he wrapped his hand around 2B's, those feelings went away all at once, leaving him breathless.

"You lead the way Nines, 'cause my vision field's totally messed up!"

"Heh, you got it, 2B!" He waved goodbye to the androids, Devola and Popola returned the gesture while A2 merely shook her head and cracked a small smile.

"You don't get to see things like that every day," Devola said.

Popola crossed her arms. "But you do get to miss the world ending, ugh, we just had to get jumped by the heartless!"

"Oh that's right, shit, how are we gonna fight them now that Sora's gone? You think YoRHa's working on something we can use to defend ourselves?"

"Hopefully or we're definitely screwed down here. And you know what the worst part about all of this is? I don't think I'm ever gonna see 13S again and he was  _serving_  in the looks department!"

"Yeah...yeah between almost getting our circuits clawed out and being unconscious, not seeing some random guy again was definitely the worst part."

"What? I'm being hyperbolic...mostly."

Staring into her machine oil drink, A2 could feel emotion sneaking up on her like the dreadful hangover that awaited after long periods of drinking. She ran her finger along the brim of her glass, the whole reason she even fathomed the idea of wasting booze on 2B and 9S was that so she could forget  _him_  and escape the loneliness that would inevitably eat her up inside. Yet there his name was 'Sora', slipped in so casually into conversation as if he were just a fond memory.

Taking matters into her own hands, A2 set her glass on the table, then pushed it over in Devola's direction. "—Devola, I think now's as good a time as any to share a drink. I have to leave soon, since I can't stay in one place for too long."

"So this is the last time I'll see you before you go on another machine hunting craze...in that case," She uploaded her finest bottle of desert rose booze then poured them both a glass. "Let's make the most out of it."

"Oh uh, Popola, you can join us if you'd like," Devola said, sliding her a glass. "Anemone said a little booze would help expedite our system recovery."

"She didn't say anything close to that, and you know how I get whenever I'm tipsy, it's better that I don't."

"I know, but this is probably going to be the last booze we're getting for a while." She nudged her in the shoulder. "Come on, just one shot won't hurt and you got the worst injuries between the two of us so you deserve it."

"...fine. Just one shot."

One shot translated to ten shots because Popola had no self-control and before the girls knew it, they finished off the entire bottle of booze in one sitting. While Devola and A2 were far gone, Popola appeared to still be mostly put together, until she accidentally broke her chair when she stood up from the table. "I...I think I'm going back to the infirmary." She tried to leave, but Devola held her arm.

"No...ur gonna brEak more shit. Just stay here, okk?"

"I'm NOT going to break anything!" She slammed her fist on the table, incidentally breaking it in half.

"Heyyyy wat's ur $%#5&!7 problem Dev #2," A2 said.

"POpopola, why... why do n't we stop this?" Devola asked.

"Stop? Stop? You want me to stop? You think I have the luxury to stop? I took ten shots of sand booze and you tell me to STOP!? No one STOPS! It's way too late to STOP! No one... STOOOOOPS!"

What followed next was nothing short of a disaster and the path of destruction Popola left in the Resistance Camp reminded Devola why her sister shouldn't come anywhere near alcohol. Anemone approached the three of them with a murderous look twisting her face, but she resisted the urge for any physical repercussion and opted to instead throw a tiny data chip to Devola.

"That's a list of all the supplies needed to rebuild the rest of the camp so...double that by about..." Scanning the area, she estimated the toll from Popola's damages. "Twice the amount to cover everything. Return shipment in no less than 8 hours, the Forest Kingdom should have everything you need. That'll be all."

A sigh escaped from Devola's lips as she downloaded the data chip's content, she turned to A2 with a smirk on her face. "I guess we're going on this machine hunting craze together."

—

[Maintenance Request]

[444 Days Since Last Full Body Maintenance]

[Would_Confirm Authorization_]

[Authorization Confirmed Would_Commander White_Like To Perform Regularly Scheduled Full Body Maintenance?]

[Yes_ **No** _Maybe Later]

[Direct Input From Administrator: DO_NOT_REPEAT_THIS_GODDAMN_MESSAGE]

[Maintenance Request Successfully Denied Until Further Notice_Have A Nice Day]

Commander White stepped up to a podium where she stood before the entirety, or at least what remained, of the YoRHa forces, suited up in reinforced battle armor that reflected their true purpose as warmongering androids. ' _They're all here, let's not prolong this.'_ She let out a deep breath, then became their Commander. "We've confirmed that the network core units known as Adam and Eve have been destroyed. The enemy's chain of command has been thrown into complete chaos."

Two monitors flashed beside her that displayed various tactical information to the androids while Commander White continued, "As such, humanity has chosen to seize this opportunity and launch a two-pronged attack against the machine forces. I know you are all aware of the monsters known as 'heartless' that feed off machines and give them power. Fortunately, YoRHa's leading research unit has worked tirelessly to counteract them and the answer lies in our very own humans-"

A giant keyblade along with three profiles on Sora, Riku and Kairi flicked on the monitors. "These three humans wield a weapon known as the 'keyblade', which has the power to eradicate the heartless from existence. It appears as though only a human can wield such a weapon, which is why I'm continuing the keyblade project alongside our current war strategy."

"Our two-pronged attack will happen simultaneously rather than in phases, a small team of androids will locate these three humans, then bring them back to the Bunker where we'll harness the powers of the keyblade and mass produce them for android use. Meanwhile, the rest of you will initiate the wide-scale attack against the machines, that way if the heartless do ally with themselves the enemy, we'll have the means to deal with them head on."

Commander White gazed at the YoRHa forces, unsure of how many would be left after this endeavor. She'd always tell herself they were meant to be expendable at the end of the day, but in truth, she never forgot the name or face of an android. "...Remember your pain, the pain of having your homeland stolen, we will never give up our struggle. We will take back the seas, the skies, the land, we will take back our world from the scourge of the heartless and machines. We will not fail in this mission, here and now we will put an end to this goddamn war!"

She placed her left hand over her chest. "Glory...to mankind."

"Glory to mankind!" The YoRHa forces repeated.

Leaving Mission Control Center as the YoRHa forces hurried to their stations, Commander White decided to clear her head out in the hallway. ' _The intel 9S gave me was game-changing, I had no idea the heartless had as much power as they did. I'm afraid if this current project doesn't work, then we'll have no choice but to rely on the humans.'_ She heard the sound of footsteps approaching her from down the hall.

"Commander, there you are," 9S said.

"9S, speak of the devil."

"...what?"

"Nothing. Can I help you with something? You should be getting ready to go to your station."

"I know, I just wanted to talk to you for a second."

"Be quick about it, I don't have all day."

"You...you were right. I can't stand it. I can't stand living in a world where there's nothing to believe in, I can't deny this emptiness inside me anymore. So how did you cope with knowing that there is no mankind left to save?"

"...How did I 'cope'? We're androids, not humans. The sooner you stop pretending like you feel anything, the sooner the pain stops."

"But how is that any way to live? It's not wrong to feel emotions, even if they hurt, I just-"

"9S, you asked me a question and I answered you. Stop worrying about what we can't change and start worrying about what's affecting us immediately, we're built to fight machines and that's what we're doing right  _now_."

"...Then why are you assigning me on the team to track Sora down instead of sending me out on the battlefield?!"

"Because that's where you're needed. Go to your station at once, that's an order."

"Yes ma'am..."

_Before I could convince myself to tell 2B the truth...our final major operation had begun._

Commander White watched him run away until he disappeared down the hallway, then she returned to Mission Control Center where she initiated their two-pronged war strategy. "Operators, we should have located the three humans by now with the tracking device we put on our target."

"They're in the Desert Zone and by the direction they're traveling, they're heading towards the Apartment Complex," Operator 21O said.

"The Apartment Complex, huh? Then that's where we'll deploy our team of androids. Send out the coordinates of the location 21O."

"Roger that."

' _According to 2B's intel, they should've been westbound to the Night Kingdom, so that was just a ruse to throw her off as I suspected. I suppose I'll find out what business they have in the desert soon enough.'_

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death of Innocence**

Weight of the World

A black keyblade with long reach and a mysterious aura. What it lacks in magic, it makes up for in strength to destroy all those around you.

**Lv. 1**

Strength: 6

Magic: 4

Special Ability:

-heartless magnet

-combo boost plus

**Weapon Story 1:**

BREAKING POINT

_Before you, the world was so black and white_

_Then you showed me what feeling was like,_

_And I wish you hadn't, because it's worse._

_Take me back in time to uplift this curse_

_When everything was Android and Machine,_

_And there was no humanity in me._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished the design for the N:A keyblade as you can see or if you can't see here's a link: https://kingdom-hearts-for-dummies.tumblr.com/post/189769249599/nierautomata-keyblade-design 
> 
> It's not great or anything lol, but there's a visual for you guys.


	23. Dist[A]nt From You

"Vehicle in transit to the Apartment Complex. Approximate arrival time: 10 minutes."

9S laid his head back on the cold, metal wall of YoRHa's newly built human transportation vehicle. He watched the other androids prepare for their descent into the desert wasteland, but all he could focus on were the knots twisting up inside of him. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if his insides actually looked like a bunch of tangled wires and cords.

_'I can't believe I'm doing to this Sora, it feels so wrong, he's my friend after all.'_ He clenched his fist. ' _But he lied to me, he lied to all of us, and now he's leaving us with the heartless. Maybe the Commander is right, we do need him.'_ "Argh- this isn't helping. I can't even logic my way out of this, this whole situation is messed up."

Pod 153: Incoming call from Operator

"Operator 21O to 9S, come in."

"This is 9S reporting in."

"I just wanted to check up on you, how is your mission going?"

"Same as it was the last five minutes you checked up on me, we're still in transit in case you forgot."

"Then let's go over the mission details again."

"Locate and detain the humans, geographically tag their location and record the whole thing. Easy." ' _Easy. That's what I told myself.'_

"Aw look at you, someone's been updating their memory processor, good job!"

"...you're totally treating me like a kid. Look, I know 2B's probably busy, but —"

"Over and out 9S!"

"Right...over and out."

"—9S." A Type-S android approached him. "Captain says to get ready, we'll be descending in five minutes."

"Okay, and 11S...this is right, what we're doing I mean. The humans are better off with us, right? We're...we're not bad guys or anything."

"...It's not my place to decide, just do what you're told because that's what the Commander asks of us and she knows what she's doing."

' _Just do what I'm told because the Commander knows what she's doing and this is right. We're right. We're right?'_

While the androids were quickly advancing to the Apartment Complex, Sora and his friends recently arrived, making their way to Adam and Eve's birthplace where their two worlds crossed paths with each other. "...You'd think there would be a lot more heartless around here since this is where they all originated from," Sora said.

"Aqua and Mickey have been guarding the other side of the dark portal to prevent anymore heartless from showing up in this world," Riku said.

"So Aqua's back in the Dark Realm because of me...well, she won't be there any longer!"

"And then we'll seal the portal once we're through so no heartless can ever come back here."

"...About that, I've been thinking, it feels like we're missing something. Like, even when we're gone, the heartless will still be here, right? I'm worried that this world will fall to the darkness."

"This world has no heart and no keyhole to seal, all heartless begin and end with us. If there was a heart to this world, it would've fallen to the darkness a long time ago."

"Yeah, you got me there." Sora rested his hands behind his head. "So the heartless are gonna follow us back just like how they followed me here in the first place?"

"That's right and no more heartless possessing machines so they can create creepy eldritch monsters," Kairi said. "So Sora, what's the first thing that you want to do once we get back home?"

"That's tough, I wanna see all my friends again, but I'm also  _really_  hungry for some decent food, you know?'

"We can invite everyone to that bistort in Twilight Town!"

"That sounds like a great idea, everyone's gonna give me such an earful though when they see me again. Especially Donald, I don't think I'll hear the end of it."

"Just be lucky you didn't get an earful from me." Kairi suddenly grabbed Sora's hand. "Look, there's the portal just down there! Let's go!"

The three traversed downwards into the pit, reaching the bottom level where the dark portal awaited them. Their journey into the darkness would serve as their last obstacle before they reached the sandy shores of Destiny Islands, but their dreams of seeing the sparkling ocean together were soon dashed away when they were forced to stay in one place from a blast that could only be attributed to the gravitational effects of pod program A140.

Immediately after they were restrained, several androids came up from behind and held them down. "What the- hey, what're you guys doing?! Let us go!" Sora yelled.

"Apologies, but the Commander has different plans for you humans," The leader android said.

"What are you talking about?! What plans?!" Riku demanded.

"You will be taken to the Bunker and assist in the war effort."

"That's not fair, you can't do this to us!" Kairi said.

"I'm merely the messenger. Direct your grievances to the Commander, now let's depart."

The androids held a tight grasp on the humans and no matter how much they screamed or struggled to break free, they simply kept marching forward, so they had no choice but to fight back. Riku had the advantage of being a few inches taller than his captor so he was able to rock himself forward and plant his feet on the ground where he slammed the android on the side of an apartment building. The second he was free, Riku used his keyblade to free Sora and Kairi, then the three of them engaged the androids in combat.

"Damn it!" The leader android made a desperate call on her pod. "We need reinforcements, send in the rest of our troops!"

With their only chance of going back home hanging on a thin line, Sora, Riku and Kairi fought harder than ever before, covering each other's weaknesses and pushing themselves past their limits. In amidst those few flashes of trading blow after blow with the androids and the screeching of sharp blades ringing throughout their ears, it seemed like they could finally escape the clutches of Earth as they overpowered even the combined forces of the androids, that was until one last android joined the battlefield.

"N-Nines?" Sora briefly stopped fighting out of sheer disbelief that 9S, someone who'd he long called his friend, would be the same person standing before him with his sword drawn out. "What ... what are you doing here?!"

Shaky hands fumbled with the tie binding his visor together, 9S locked his gaze with Sora's so he could see the same emptiness in his eyes that plagued every android. "...Sora...I don't want to fight you, I-"

"Then why are you still here?! If we're friends, then you'll fight with me, not against me!"

"It's not that simple...your fate with the androids is inevitable, I can't stop them...only you can end this!"

"What're you talking about?! I thought we were friends, but I guess none of that meant anything to you!" Fueled by the rage and sadness culminating inside of him, he ran forward then hammered his keyblade down on 9S's sword.

9S barely had the strength to withstand Sora's sword swing and was struggling to hold his own against the weight of his keyblade. "I've always been trying to fight for you, that's never changed. So listen to me Sora, the Commander, she put a-"

"Unit 9S! Speak no further, that is classified information!" The leader android said.

"I don't care! Sora, you have a tracking device in you and the Commander will follow you to the ends of space if she has to in order to find you! So...so just give up."

"...that's all you have to say, just give up...you're...you're no different than the rest of the androids. You were never a friend to me."

"I DON'T WANT THIS EITHER!" The anger 9S suppressed for so long erupted all at once in a violent outburst and he summoned to strength to swing back at Sora with Cruel Oath. "I don't want any of this! I wanted to believe we were fighting for something, I wanted to believe in YOU Sora!"

"But there are no humans, there's nothing to believe in! And now you want to go back to whatever planet you came from while you're leaving us here to suffer?!" He punctuated his words with heavy sword attacks that Sora blocked over and over again because he lost the will to fight back, then 9S eventually put his sword down and lowered his head. "I don't want this...I don't want this lie to end...and most of all...I don't want you to go."

Sora looked back to his friends, then to 9S and the androids. "...fine. I'll go. I'll help in this stupid war, but only if Kairi and Riku get to go home."

"No! We came here to bring you back home with us Sora, and that's what we're going to do!" Riku said.

"And we can fight them off, you can't stay here, you said we would be together!" Kairi cried out.

"Not if it means endangering you guys. If I have a tracking device in me, then I can't risk the Commander taking more humans away because of me." Sora held his arms out in defeat. "Please, please let my friends go home, I'll go back to the Bunker and I'll do what you say. Just please let them leave."

"...I suppose one willing human is better than three rebellious ones. As long as we have one human's keyblade, then the war strategy should work just fine. " The leader motioned what few remaining androids of her force to surround Sora and continue his march back to the transportation vehicle, but Kairi wouldn't let them take him away so easily and pushed past the androids so she could see his face one last time.

"No ...no no no no, you can't do this!" Tears were running down her face, blurring her vision so she couldn't even see his face anymore. "Don't leave us Sora...don't leave  _me_! Please, I'll go with you, I'll stay here on Earth, just please don't leave me alone again! I can't go back to Destiny Islands without you!"

"I don't want you to be trapped here with me." He broke away from the androids to hold her hands. "Kairi, I promise I'll come back for you. I promise I'll see you again."

"That's not good enough! I want you to be real...I don't want to think of you anymore!" Then as they stood there together and Kairi stared into Sora's eyes, wondering how long it would be until she could stare into them again, her heart dawned upon something. "I...I love you Sora. I can't live in a world without you!"

"Kairi..." Before their worlds could get separated once more, Sora joined them together, pressing his lips onto Kairi's. Maybe it was cliche, but in that moment, those few precious seconds, time stopped. The world stood at a standstill. Nothing else mattered except the pounding of their chests from their hearts trying to break free and the fervent rush they felt for each other.

Kairi's knees weakened and her toes curled, her body desperately wanting to stay with Sora in that moment forever where he was holding her in his arms, sinking his hands into her cheeks, but the world around them still moved and they lived in a reality where Sora gave himself up for them. So just like that, he was taken away from her embrace, she tried to run after him, but Riku held onto her.

"NO! NO, SORA! SORAAA!"

"Calm down, it's okay Kairi, we'll be okay." Riku took his gummiphone out of his pocket, then threw it to Sora. "We'll find a way back to each other again, that's a promise!"

Sora caught the gummiphone. "Riku...Kairi...take care of each other."

If Sora had felt loneliness before, it was nothing compared to the mind-numbing isolation he experienced as he sat inside the empty transportation vehicle. Now, he truly was the last human in their world.

Sora clenched his stomach, food should've been the last thing on his mind, but ever since Kairi got the idea of going to Le Grand Bistort, he couldn't stop thinking about their irresistible fruit tarts or the savory but misnamed ratatouille dish. And now his stomach was growling which caught the attention of 9S who was sitting across from him on the opposite wall.

The boys hadn't spoken a word to each other since they boarded the vehicle, Sora wouldn't even look in 9S's direction and his empty stomach wasn't about to change that. Nevertheless, 9S acknowledge the human's necessity to eat and uploaded an apple from his database that he threw to Sora. "...there's some dehydrated food in the storage compartments." He said in a friendly voice.

Unsurprising to 9S, Sora disregarded the apple entirely.

Then when it couldn't get much worse, a bright monitor with the YoRHa insignia lowered from the ceiling. "Greetings from the Council of Humanity and a warm welcome to our very own humans who will be living amongst the YoRHa androids in the Bunker. By working closely with the androids, they will be able to better accommodate the moon colony's facilities, however, living on the Bunker comes with its own unique set of challenges different from the moon colony such as-"

"Is this a joke to you?!" Sora threw his keyblade at the monitor, but it was merely a projection of light so it phased right through and the Council of Humanity's message continued without pause.

Calling his keyblade back, Sora sunk down on his knees and slammed his fists on the ground, the weight of the world crashing down him. 9S watched on in silence, knowing that nothing he said would ever be enough to reconcile with what was taken away from him. Even though it was ultimately the Commander's fault, seeing someone as bright and cheerful Sora breakdown right in front of him ate 9S up inside, guilt had a funny way of working like that and he blamed himself for being complicit through all of it instead of fighting by his side like the friend he should've been.

So why was he still so happy that Sora was here? Before he could dwell on his conflicting emotions any longer, he received a call from his pod.

Pod 153: Incoming Call from Unit 2B

"Huh? 2B?"

"9S! We need back up out here, everyone's getting affected with the logic v—v—v—v—"

The signal went static, freaking 9S out. He stood up then rushed to the front end of the vehicle. "How long until we reach the City Ruins?!"

"..."

"I said how long until we reach the City Ruins?! The androids need our help at the frontlines, I'm sure the Commander will understand if we- hey, are you even listening to me?!" When he reached over to grab her shoulder, the android piloting the vehicle suddenly whipped her head back, revealing her piercing red eyes to 9S. The logic virus spread amongst the other androids and they surrounded him with their swords drawn.

"...oh no!" 9S summoned his sword, prepared to fight them off, but they were rendered immobile from several bolts of lightning. He swerved around to see Sora with his keyblade held out, breathing heavily. "We need to get out of here, those androids are long gone and this vehicle's going to crash any minute now!"

Nodding, Sora used Weight of the World's shotlock to blast a hole through the metal interior where they could see the vast desert stretched out before them. From the looks of the pipelines riddling the sand, they were nearing the ends of the desert.

"Ready, Sora? I know you said you were fall damage proof but-"

In blatant disregard to 9S, Sora dove right out of the vehicle; the free-falling, weightless motion, the whipping winds on his face as he fell down into the world. It reminded him of simpler times when diving into a new world was fun and exciting instead of escaping imminent doom. Yet he still found himself enjoying his descent into the desert sands, if nothing else, and the immense satisfaction of driving his keyblade into the ground, destroying any enemies caught in his damage radius.

9S landed down beside him afterward. "I'm going to find 2B, she's..she's in trouble...and, I'm sorry things turned out the way they did...I really am. So, wherever you go from here on out, I won't ever stop you." With that, he ran away in search of 2B, leaving Sora in the dust.

"It's not like there's anywhere else for me to go..." Sora said under his breath. Then he remembered. ' _If there's somewhere to go, then it would be with A2. She's the only one who I can always count on no matter what. I'll go ask around at the camp for her.'_

—

_Kuwata tsunowo vralai_

_tsuriji pufuralekai_

_kwondzuvai undovartsu wronduwail_

_Tjortetei jeki liago_

 

_Souta tsunowo vralai_

_Saaha pforaalekai_

_Kwondzuvai undovartu wronduwail_

_Skora jeghi hiartro_

  
A2 looked over to Devola and Popola, they were in the middle of gathering materials in the commercial facility when the twins started singing out of nowhere. Admittedly, they weren't bad singers, in fact, it was calming to listen to them harmonize together, but drawing this much attention didn't sit well with A2, even if the Forest Kingdom machines were practically wiped out at this point. "Why are you two singing?" She asked.

"It's a song we sing whenever we need to atone for our sins," Popola said. "And destroying the camp was a pretty big sin."

"That was you who did all the destroying," Devola said

"Because you gave me booze and you know what happens when I'm drunk!"

"Yeah, well  _I_  was drunk. Maybe we should just do e-drugs next time, less destruction that way."

"What the- no! We can only ask for so much atonement!"

"You have e-drugs? Where'd you get them from?" A2 asked.

"Uh...from a friend...hey, A2, did you find the iron ore yet," Devola said changing the subject.

"Answer's still no."

"Great. She's got like 50 lbs of iron ore on here and we haven't found a single piece yet."

"But I found something almost as good as 50 lbs of iron ore look," Popola beckoned Devola and A2 over so they could see the luminescent white flower growing amongst the rubble. "It's a Lunar Tear and it's so beautiful! I didn't think we'd ever find one again."

"What's so special about it?" A2 asked.

"It's a rare flower said to grant any wish. Wonder if it's true..." Popola reached over to grab the flower when they heard the low hum of an engine running behind them. They turned around to see Emil had upgraded from being a dismembered head to cruising around in a rusted vehicle with an assortment of items in his trunk.

"What the- where the hell did you come from?!" A2 said.

"So that flower is called a Lunar Tear..." Emil began. "Seeing that drudges up all kinds of memories. Some of them are a bit strange honestly, like the one where I'm being attacked by a boar over and over again. Or another where I keep trying out new parts every time my body is damaged."

"Tough shit. I know how that feels."

He paused briefly. "...something about this flower fills me with an emotion I don't understand. It's like something is pushing down on my chest really hard."

"Devola, Popola, do either of you two know him?" A2 asked the twins and they shook their head in response.

"Devola and Popola?" Emil repeated. "Those names also drudges up memories...scary memories. Come to think of it, I feel like a part of me has seen you both before."

Devola and Popola exchanged confused glances. "You're probably thinking about a past model of us," Devola said. "Another 'Devola and Popola' went nutso a long time ago, but we're from a different production."

"I see, then, um, if you don't mind, can I ask you a favor?"

"So you're going to ask strangers you've just met for a favor," A2 said.

"A2!" Popola said.

"Normally I would agree, but I don't think this kid has bad intentions. It's not like he's a YoRHa android," Devola said, trying to reason with her.

Popola sighed. "You just had to bring that up...whatever, Dev is right anyway. We should hear him out at least."

"Thanks, well, if you find any more Lunar Tears, could you guys let me know? I want to try and figure out what this feeling is all about. What do you say?"

"No...I'm not helping another annoying kid out!" A2 walked away from them, leaving the commercial facility to go further into the forest.

"Wait A2...goddamnit she's in for it now," Devola chased after A2 while Popola was the only one to stay behind.

Popola gave Emil an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, A2's just being difficult right now, but she'll come around eventually. We'll help you out on your mission."

"Really? Aw thanks, when you find any Lunar Tears, just let me know on this frequency, all right? I'm counting on you!"

As Emil zipped away, Popola let out a sigh, then made her way to Devola and A2.  _'I swear those two are cut from the same cloth.'_

Meanwhile, Devola caught up to A2 who was leaning on the side of an enormous tree with her arms crossed. In typical Devola fashion, she snatched the collar of A2's black coat that she refused to take off and pulled her close. "Cut this self-loathing bullshit out right now, A2!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do and you need to move on! Everyone knows you miss Sora, we all do, but you need to stop acting like he's the only one who gave a shit about you!" Devola loosened her grip on A2's collar. "I...I care about you A2."

"...Sometimes I wonder if these feelings are real too, if I actually care about Sora or if they're just programmed emotions solely because he's human, but...I always know with certainty how I feel about androids and I know that I care about you too..." When A2 realized what she said was a bit too sentimental for her liking, she quickly added, "...I mean, enough to not let you die or anything."

"Uh yeah...not dying. So anyways, you gonna help that kid find his stupid flowers?"

"I'll think about it after we get everything for Anemone, but Popola already sent me the mission details so I'll probably end up doing it anyway."

"Ah, that's the A2 I know." Devola playfully punched A2's arm. "Let's go deeper into the forest for the rest of the materials." She motioned for her sister to follow who was idly watching them from the sidelines.

Popola went up to Devola with a mischievous smile on her face.

"What's with that look?" Devola asked slowly.

She lowered her head, then in a hushed voice said, "...That was really bad flirting, Dev."

"Shut up!" She pushed her away. "You know that wasn't what I was trying to do!"

"Do what?" A2 asked.

"Nothing!" Embarrassed, Devola hurried ahead of them.

"What's her problem?"

Popola shrugged. "I ask myself that all the time A2."

Soon enough, the three of them reached the forest clearing where a small Resistance campsite was positioned. "I didn't know there was a Resistance camp here too, you think we can just buy some iron ore off of them?" Popola asked.

A2 shook her head. "I'm broke."

"Wha- how?! Don't you constantly fight machines?"

"I also constantly buy and upgrade weapons and items and that stuff's pretty expensive."

"Buying twenty bottles of booze is also pretty expensive too," Devola said. "Look don't worry, Popola and I can cover it, we'll save more time this way instead of mindlessly wandering around."

They approached the Resistance camp, but the two resistance androids stationed there were huddled over a YoRHa android. "What's going on here? Is she okay?" Popola asked.

"Not sure," The supply trader replied. "We saw her stumble into the forest, then she just collapsed. Probably went AWOL or something."

"She's in battle armor, is there some kind of conflict going on with YoRHa?" A2 asked.

"Our boss would know more about that than us, she went to the main Resistance camp for some kind of specialized plug-in so she could hack into her and fix her internally."

"It's that bad, huh? I wish we could be of more help since we are medics, but hacking isn't really our strong suit," Devola said.

"一Then it's a good thing I'm here." It was Jackass of all resistance androids that came running up from behind them. She was noticeably wounded by the way she clutched onto her arm for dear life, which raised a few questions for A2.

"Why are you stationed here?" A2 bluntly asked.

"Yeah, nice to see you too. White relocated me here a while ago to organize some of the shipment supplies she sent to the Forest Kingdom resistance since she's too goddamn lazy to do it herself. Now, let's see what I can do here."

Moving past the androids, Jackass inserted the HUD: Damage Value plug-in chip inside the android. "There, now I can figure out which one of her systems is the most damaged..." Injured arm or not it wouldn't stop her from carrying out the android's recovery and she tried her hand at hacking in order to diagnose and fix the problem.  _'I see now. Whatever the hell's happening, it's slowly destroying her.'_

While Jackass worked on the android, A2 refocused her attention back on their mission. "They have this handled, let's continue with our current objective."

"...Right," Popola said. "Good luck, Jackass."

But as they were walking away, the YoRHa android suddenly powered on and was now attacking the resistance androids. Being the closest to her, Jackass sustained the most damage, receiving a stab wound through her upper chest upon her reactivation and she was about to suffer much worse than just a stab wound, fortunately, A2 managed to block the follow-up attack just in time.

Now that the two YoRHa androids were joined by their blades, A2 could clearly see the red light emitting from her eyes. "It's the logic virus...then it's already too late for her." She pushed back on the android's sword, then used the sharp cutting edge of Iron Will to slice straight through her armor so it would be easier to kill her, but she evaded a would-be fatal blow from A2 by agile maneuvering and summoned a Type-3 lance from her arsenal.

' _God, I hate spears.'_  Regardless, A2 pursued the android despite the inherent disadvantages an aggressive, close-range fighting style would have against one that was precise and reliant on long-range attacks. With more than her fair share of dealing with spears, A2 was able to counter all of her attacks by staying out of her range, but she wasn't able to make as much as a scratch on her with how guarded the android kept herself.  _'Damn it, since when were androids this tough to kill?!'_

While A2 was battling it out, Devola and Popola were busy tending to the wounded resistance androids, but Devola got the nagging feeling A2 was on her way to becoming the next wounded android by the looks of it, so she decided it was time to draw her own Type-3 sword and blade. "I'm gonna make sure A2 doesn't die on us."

"Go ahead, I've got this handled here."

"一A2, watch out!" Lugging the massive Type-3 blade around, Devola charged for the insurgent YoRHa android as A2 was withdrawing. Thinking Devola's attack was aimed for her, the android simply backed away at the cost of her Type-3 lance being sliced in half. "That should do it!"

Devola's surprise attack to her own weapon briefly disoriented the YoRHa android, giving A2 more than enough time to come up from behind and lodge Iron Will into her chest, finally putting her out of her misery.

"You fight well for being a non-combative android," A2 said.

"I learned a few things here and there," Devola picked up the severed lance, squeezing it tight in her hand. "I knew it. This android was a regular of ours, heh, she was a fanatic over Type-3 weapons and we're the ones who made this lance for her so she could complete the set."

"...YoRHa androids have anti-virus mechanisms to kill the logic virus, it shouldn't have gotten to this point," A2 said.

"一Well she's not the only one," Jackass limped over to them, but she was barely able to support her own weight without Popola's help. "All the YoRHa androids are affected with the logic virus and they're killing each other, whatever's happening has to be intentional. I just wonder if White knows about this..."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death Of Benevolence**

**Dist[A]nt** From You

Dist[A]nt  **From** You

Dist[A]nt From  **You**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the support you've given me since I started this fic, I really appreciate it and it's been a wild ride. Hope you guys had a great holiday and wasn't forced to work a dead end retail job like I was. Anyways, happy new years!


	24. [T]he Curse of Androids

"Unit 66B Offline."

"Unit 5S Offline."

"Unit 24B Offline."

The constant beeping of the 'WARNING' alert accompanied by the detached voices of Operator androids numbering off YoRHa soldiers one by one followed Commander White throughout the Bunker until the doors closed behind her and she was finally met with silence as she entered her room.

"What an utter failure." She fell back on her bed. "At least we can put this data to use for a new line of androids, but we've lost a substantial amount of our forces. I can't believe the machines are wiping them out at such an unprecedented rate..."

Hearing the door slide open, Commander White raised her head and saw a friendly face standing in the doorway. "Operator 6O, you should be at your station," She said in a stern tone.

"It looked like you needed a friend... and 2B self-destructed her black box so she's in the Bunker now." Her eyebrows furrowed at all of the Commander's clothes strewn haphazardly across the floor and bed. "Ugh, you really need to clean up, it smells like depression in here."

"You can always go back to your station."

"And stare at a blank screen all day? No thanks." After wading through the mess, she plopped down next to Commander White. "...I don't even wanna know how long it's been since you've last done maintenance. You need to pull yourself together, you  _are_  the Commander."

"Heh, that I am." The tenseness in her face and voice eased up a little just from being in Operator 6O's presence. "Why don't you try being the Commander and see how quickly those things don't matter."

She chuckled. "Point taken, I can't imagine operating another 2B... but if personal hygiene  _clearly_  doesn't matter to you, then what does?"

"You would ask your Commander such a pointless question?"

"I just want to hear you say it."

"It goes without saying."

"Then spell it out for me!"

Commander White let out a defeated sigh. "You win, but I'll only tell you. My top priority has always been ..." Her words trailed off when Operator 6O's head abruptly dropped down. "6O? Are you okay? 6O?"

"Heh heh heh, this must be a game to you. You can't even decide what's more important. Us or those...those humans." Her red eyes fixated on Commander White's, then her body was pushed back so those red eyes focused on the blank ceiling instead. With one last, disheartened gaze, the doors closed behind the Commander just as she closed herself off to any lingering emotions inside her. Then she returned to Mission Control Center with her best attempt at appearing collected in the face of the other androids.

"Unit 19S Offline."

"Unit 13B Offline."

"Unit 7B Offline."

"Commander, you're back," An Operator said. "We're attempting to regain communication with the Earth's servers, so the whereabouts of the human remains unknown."

"I'm not worried about that. It'll be easy to find him, we'll just go to wherever the heartless are. I'm worried about...the androids. Our ground units. Why haven't they reported anything if we keep losing them this fast?"

"We've lost connection a while ago, all we can do is report the status of their black box signals. Should we continue with our current strategy or opt for a different approach?"

"..."

"Commander?"

"..."

"一Commander!"

The sound of 2B's voice snapped Commander White back into reality. "2B? 9S?" She asked as the two androids frantically ran up to her. "You shouldn't be here!"

"We know, but the YoRHa units on the ground were infected by a virus, we had to detonate our black boxes in order to stop them," 9S said.

Commander White was angered enough to break her stoic composure and outright yell at the two androids, "All YoRHa units have anti-virus programs installed, a goddamn virus can't be the reason why we're losing this many of our forces when we're built against that! And the fact that you're standing right in front of me  _away_  from the battlefield when I didn't even order a retreat is proof of that!"

"We're telling you, YoRHa has gone berserk!" 2B cried out.

"...No. You're the ones that are infected, just like ...she was..."

"Are you nuts?!" 9S said.

She pointed her riding crop at them to solidify her stance. "2B, 9S. You're being detained under suspicion of virus contamination." Several YoRHa androids joined her side and also raised their swords only for it to backfire when they succumbed to the logic virus.

 _"Eee hee hee!_ _ **Bingoo**_ _!"_  One of the now infected YoRHa androids cackled as red eyes emitted from her helmet.

Dozens of bright red eyes surrounded the three of them, but 2B was the only one who immediately stirred to action at the imminent danger, fending off her Commander against an infected android. "Commander, we have to go!"

"We can't, damn it, the doors are locked," 9S said. "Did the virus infiltrate the Bunker itself?!"

" _Ooooo!_ **Bingo**   _AGAIN!_ We are your  _beloved_ _ **machine lifeforms**_. We  **speak to you** through the  _network_  and the  **virus**."

"How is that possible?!" 2B defeated the YoRHa android that served as the mouthpiece to the so-called machine network, yet their high-pitched, omnipresent voices remained persistent within the Bunker and it continued without pause.

"We've had a great deal of  _fun_  watching you ~squirm~ But  **I'm**   **afraid the end has come for this** **outpost** **."**

"You will do no such thing!" Commander White said in protest, which merely made the machine network laugh out of spite.

"Ah ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! WHAT MEANINGLESS WORDS  **BECAUSE** **YOU WILL ALL FALL INTO** **OBLIVION** **!"**

YoRHa androids ranging from type B all the way to non-combative type O models shared the same fate tied to death from the logic virus. YoRHa androids that were once Commander White's subordinates who she regularly made conversation with, mostly by ordering around, were now being sliced into, stabbed, blown up, impaled, hacked, things she never thought she'd ever bear witness to was unfolding right in front of her. She wondered when this nightmare would end, but it kept on going and going and going until 2B struck her sword through the last android in Mission Control Center and the room was flooded with red light.

"The doors are open now," 9S said. "We can get out of here!"

 _'That's the emergency signal.'_  Commander White made her way to the elevator where the others were while the emergency broadcast drowned out the noise.

EMERGENCY: THE FUSION REACTOR TO THE BUNKER IS CURRENTLY IN AN UNCONTROLLABLE STATE. ALL YORHA UNITS MUST EVACUATE THE BUNKER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

The elevator raised to the second level.

REPEAT: THE FUSION REACTOR TO THE BUNKER IS CURRENTLY IN AN UNCONTROLLABLE STATE. ALL YORHA UNITS MUST- HEhehe ehHE ehe EH E Eva-va-vacuate ehe he hhhhe eh he HA HA AH HAAAA

Once they finally escaped Mission Control Center and ran down the red washed halls of the Bunker, they encountered more infected androids that 2B and 9S had no choice but to fight if they wanted to progress. "G-G-Glory to...m-mankind..."

"All YoRHa units...LAUnch..."

Despite how despondent 2B was at this point, she couldn't help but recoil in horror at the remnants of themselves still trying to break free from the logic virus. "They're still...conscious..."

"Stay focused, 2B!" 9S said.

After defeating the first onslaught of infected androids, they pressed on further into the chaos. Along the way, the emergency lights powered out and the Bunker went pitch-black so 2B and 9S used the light of their pods to shine against the darkness. Inevitably as they were placed in a more vulnerable environment, androids jumped out of the shadows to attack them. "Hee Hee! I want to see the human again! A-A-A-Again!"

But one particularly cheerful voice stood out amongst the drones that had a poignant effect on them.

"Two-Bee, I-I-I am Operator siix-oH. ThAnk yOU ffffoR the FFLoWERs. Desert FLOWers are BEAUTF-, a-a-a-areN'T tHEY? Th-Th-Thank you...SoMEday I ...actually why don't i tell you in person."

Someone grabbed Commander White from behind with the intent to choke her. "Wh-Wh-Why do you ALwaYS hAVe to LeaVE MEEEEE?!"

"I... I got so caught up in everything ... nothing else seemed to matter!" Commander White said in between gasps of breath.

"So so sososo what DOES MATTER?!"

"Commander!" 2B forced Operator 6O off of her, then threw her own operator to the ground. "We can't stop, the Bunker is lost. We have to evacuate!"

"...I'm right behind you."

They made it to the elevator leading down to the terminal where they received a brief moment of reprieve. "Tell me...why weren't you two infected?" Commander White asked.

"I...I don't know!" 2B yelled.

"It's probably because I deferred our data sync," 9S said. "I noticed some weird noise in the Bunker's server data so I paused the upload."

While the elevator doors to the terminal slid open, the entryway wouldn't budge. "No, the transport terminal is corrupted! Our only way out is through the Hangar," 9S said.

"OHHhhhh THIS IS SO MUCH  **FUN**  THE VIRUS WE PLANTED HAS SPROUTED INTO A  _ **BEAUTIFUL**_   _ **FLOWER!"**_

2B, 9S and the Commander fought their way past the remaining infected YoRHa androids to reach the Hangar elevator. "Commander, we're going to get some flight units, then we'll be out of here," 2B said as they boarded inside, but she didn't acknowledge a word that was said to her.

By the time they were finally at the Hangar, so close to freedom, Commander White stopped dead in her tracks, causing 2B to turn back and scream, "Commander, hurry!"

"No. I'm staying here. I can't." Slowly raising her head, she revealed her bloodshot red eyes to them. "I, too, was synced up to the server."

"But 9S can hack into your system and-"

"There's no time...it doesn't matter. You two are the last remaining members of YoRHa, it's your duty to survive. Besides, this is  _my_  command, let me at least fulfill my duty here to the end."

"No... no Commander! We can still save you if you'd just let us!" 2B tried reaching out to her, but 9S held her back.

"Move it 2B, that's an order!"

"But..."

"2B, this place is lost," 9S said. "We have to go."

"2B, 9S. Know that my top priority has always been to serve the androids." The doors closed shut while 2B and 9S escaped to the flight units.

"This is how it ends. So be it, the captain goes down with her ship." However, the Commander wasn't the only one who remained in the Bunker, the neoshadow heartless they captured was able to escape its confinement and crawled its way to the Hangar where it confronted her. Its monstrous face devoid of emotion brought a smile to her face. "I still won't admit defeat. I may have lost, but the androids will triumph over you one day..."

At the same time the Bunker was collapsing, 2B and 9S broke through the stratosphere and were flying over the ocean where they were ambushed by airborne machines. Shooting them down one by one in all her rage and ferocity was the only thing that still felt normal to 2B.

She even went as far as to deploy 9S to keep him safe while she shouldered the brunt of the machine's attacks. Nothing else mattered, not the sadness or despair from losing everything that gave her life meaning, just the euphoric release of watching scraps of machinery fall into the ocean kept her running.

Then her entire field of vision was swallowed in white light and next thing 2B knew, she was lying on the cold ground of the Flooded City, once again surrounded by machines.

Pod 042: Alert: Multiple Enemies Confirmed

 _'I can still fight.'_ As her blade tore through the husks of metal, she received her own early death sentence through the robotic voice of her pod.

Pod 042: Alert: Virus Infection Detected

Pod 042: Proposal: Administer vaccine immediately

' _No, no, no, no, this can't be it.'_

**System Corrupted: 1.02%**

"Unngh." But the pain of having her body slowly destroyed from the inside out felt too real and she was forced to limp the rest of the way out of the Flooded City into the sewers where she finally regained control of her body.

**System Corrupted: 15.99%**

Pod 042: Alert: Virus Contamination rate up to 16 percent. Malfunction detected in NFCS circuit

"I...I have to keep it...from spreading to other androids. Pod, give me a location that's low on android signals."

Pod 042: Searching...Analysis: The area near the abandoned Commercial Facility meet the desired parameters

Pod 042: Alert: YoRHa unit 2B will sustain serious damage unless the virus is eliminated

"...you don't say."

2B left the sewers and was in the center of the City Ruins when she had another bout of the virus lacerating her circuits up inside and was forced to be thrashed around by machines until she was allowed to fight back again when the virus relented.

**System Corrupted: 20.99%**

Pod 042: Alert: Virus Contamination rate up to 21 percent.

"Remove the contamination...and reset."

Pod 042: Analysis: Virus is transforming and progressing its own algorithm with abnormal speed. Removal will be difficult.

She wanted to protest, but she didn't have the strength to muster any words in her defense and trudged along to her final resting place.

**System Corrupted: 31.99%**

Pod 042: Alert: Virus Contamination rate up to 32 percent. Malfunction detected iǹ̵̨̜ v̴͙̓ḯ̵̡̼͠s̸̻̫͊u̵̥̓̈́a̶̧͕̋̉l̸̨͙̅̈ ̷͔͒͂p̸̜̗͊r̷͎̮͐ơ̸̧̗̔ć̴̲e̸̦̺̓́s̶͙̪̋̍s̶͕͕̈́i̸̯̚͝ń̸̫͌g̴̳͇̋̈ ̷̡̳̾s̴͕̑y̷̘̆ş̵̨̎̊t̷͔̖̀̿e̵̛̓ͅm̶̝̓͑

Pod 042: "The Council of Humanity from all our #*7&982 fighting on the surface. Today I have wonderful $&*## The Council of Humanity has decided to increase the production of new 3#42&55 This will enable us to deal a powerful blow to 305285732057032857 enemies."

Pod 042: "The light of hope is #*$*$7$$8# closer than ever to it. We look forward to the future #*%*$^*3*66#*98& and know that you will be the one to 57777789. Glory to #$5*&%#%^*."

12444444 the Council of Humanity's message was over, 2B could see the bridge leading down to the 427046080268108 but was powerless to move faster than her current limping rate.

**System Corrupted: 56.99%**

Pod 042: Alert: Virus Contamination rate up to 57 percent. Mal- 0000000000000

Though her legs were as heavy as lead and the machines were ruthless she 7829649168402160 but she at least had the strength to 97898 [Error: Narration Not Found]

"[Error: Dialogue Not Found]"

"[Error: Dialogue Not Found]"

[Resolution: Skip to end of Chapter]

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**90237493826914**

**64352: [O]blivion**

**141847104710**

* * *

A/N: [Error: Author's Note 1111111111111111111]

[Error Corrected: Resume Chapter]

Pod 042:  **System Corrupted: 69.99%**

Pod 042: Alert: Virus Contamination rate up to 70 percent. Infiltrating System Protected Region

 

**Chapter 1: What Does [K]ill You**

**Summary:**

38892384240, Sora finds himself in the world of NieR: Automata. He meets 0274902904937049073070203 to destroy the machines, hoping she might be the answer to finding 20497017097240270174091. However, when Sora gets wrapped up in the war between androids and machines, he realizes 494099018489-148-1.

 **Disclaimer** : [Error: Disclaimer Not Found]

 _'YoRHa'_ =thoughts

YoRHa= Narration

T̶̖̔͋h̴̢̟͆̎e̷͎̤͊̄y̵̳̞̏ ̷̺̽͗ċ̶̱a̵̢͙̅̔n̵͉͌ ̴̛̺̀t̸͎́͠ä̵̱̻̿ķ̵͠e̶̜͖͐ ̷̘͙̕ÿ̶̻̗́o̵̫̍ǘ̶̖̞̊r̸͇̃ ̷̺̅̀w̶̱̮̃ọ̴̮̓̅ṙ̷̟l̵̞̺͑̈́d̸̘̉̏.̵̴̢̝̪͚͑͌

̷̖͗C̵͉͓̆ư̸̱͘ẗ̴̙́̽ ̵͖̾͛y̴̱̔o̸̩̯͆u̷͓̹̒̃ ̷͔͗͘ͅl̴͕͊o̵̦̫͒͋o̸̭͔̓̑s̷̙̺̚ë̵̯́̕ ̷̦̙͆̈́f̶̟̎̆r̵̝̃͐o̶͈̚m̸͕̐ ̶̙̭́a̵̦͇̽́l̴̖̀ĺ̵̜͉͘ ̸̱̿ỵ̶̧̽̎o̴̭̳͋͠u̵͔͘͜ ̴̮̆͝k̶̥̓̂n̷̢̅͜ȏ̷̳w̴̹̺̓̈.̸̠̎

̷̢̎̍B̵͈͘u̸͚̅̕t̴̪̺̎ ̴͙̔̀i̵̛͕͛f̷̦̐͑ ̶̡͊̕i̷͉͎̎ť̸͓'̸̥̦̽s̶͓͐̅ ̴̹͠͠y̸̡̔͝ǫ̸̼́ù̷̢̲͠ṛ̶̢̈́ ̸̭̐̚f̸͓̍a̴̒̍͜ͅẗ̷̥́͑ȅ̵̫̮.̵̹͈͝.̷͕͚̌.̸͓́͐

̵̯̀͜T̷̮́ĥ̵͕̒ē̵̞̓n̷͎̒̾ ̵̥̟͛͋e̵̻͋͊v̴̨̾̕ḛ̶͍̈́r̸͚̈́y̴̖̱̆̀ ̴̈́̚ͅś̶̗͇t̶̫̼̄̌e̴̱͌͜p̴̻̒̓ͅ ̷̜̈́f̴̥̱̉̓ó̵̢r̷̼͚̆w̵̮̼̃a̶͕̓r̸̺̊d̶̯̩̐,̸͉͙͋̆

̷̙̹̌̋Ẉ̶̡̀i̸̻̫̿͝l̶̥̠͗͘l̴͎͗ ̵̙̱̑̀a̷̮̅̑l̷͚̦̈́͑w̷̲̏͗a̸͓͚̓ẏ̷̰͜s̴̤̄̑ ̴̨͐b̴̲̝̍ḛ̸̥̈͊ ̵͇͂a̵͔̳͒ ̷̖͛̈́s̴̟̝̆̉ț̷̀̽é̴̢͘ͅp̵̘͎͘ ̸̜̓͒c̸̱̍l̶̢̥̀o̴̗̞̊̂s̷̙͚͝e̵̜̓r̸̠̾ ̴̪̅̀t̵̗̒̌o̵̭̞͐ ̵̡̮̊  **̷̫͎̋Ō̷͚b̶͓͒l̸̞̉͘i̴̠̊͗v̸̻̮̋̍į̵̜̄o̵͚̎͂n̵͎̗͆**

P̷o̴d̸ ̵0̶4̸2̷:̵ ̴ **S̷y̸s̸t̴e̴m̷ ̴C̴o̶r̷r̵u̷p̴t̶e̶d̶:̴ ̶8̶9̶.̶9̶9̷%̶ ̸**

P̷o̵d̸ ̶0̷4̶2̸:̷ ̷A̶l̴e̷r̵t̷:̷ ̸V̵i̶r̴u̷s̶ ̵C̴o̵n̸t̶a̷m̵i̵n̴a̸t̶i̸o̵n̶ ̴r̴a̶t̶e̸ ̴u̸p̸ ̵t̸o̴ ̴9̴0̶ ̴p̶e̷r̴c̶e̴n̸t̶.̸ ̷A̷l̵e̴r̸t̸:̸ ̸U̴n̸u̶s̴u̶a̵l̷ ̶h̴e̵a̷t̴ ̷g̸e̸n̷e̷r̷a̵t̵i̵o̴n̵ ̷i̶n̶ ̷c̸e̵n̶t̸r̴a̷l̶ ̸n̵e̸r̷v̴o̶u̶s̵ ̷s̶y̵s̸t̷e̷m̷,̵ ̵i̷n̴t̸e̷r̴n̸a̶l̶ ̸c̶o̴m̵b̴u̴s̶t̶i̵o̴n̵ ̶i̴m̵m̴i̷n̶e̶n̶t̷.̶

_*̴B̴O̶O̴O̸O̵M̶_

"̸.̸.̶.̷"̵

̴'̴I̶s̸ ̸i̸t̴ ̴o̴v̸e̵r̸?̷'̸

̷'̵N̷o̴.̴ ̴I̵'̸m̶ ̷s̵t̸i̸l̵l̷ ̴a̵l̸i̷v̷e̴.̶'̸

P̶o̴d̴ ̷0̶4̷2̴:̴ ̵A̸n̵a̸l̶y̸s̸i̶s̵:̷ ̶A̸b̵n̷o̷r̸m̵a̸l̸i̵t̵y̵ ̷d̵e̸t̷e̸c̸t̸e̴d̸ ̶i̶n̷ ̷v̵i̷s̵u̴a̸l̵ ̵s̶e̵n̴s̸o̵r̶s̴

P̵o̴d̸ ̶0̸4̶2̵:̷ ̴A̶l̷e̴r̷t̴:̶ ̵D̷e̸t̸e̴r̷i̶o̴r̵a̷t̴i̶o̸n̶ ̶f̸o̴u̵n̴d̷ ̵i̸n̷ ̷b̴la̸c̴k̸ ̷b̷o̸x̶,̶ ̷d̴a̴m̸a̶g̶e̴ ̵t̴o̸ ̶d̵a̸t̶a̸ ̵b̸a̸c̶k̶ ̴u̷p̴ ̵s̷y̷s̴t̷e̸m̸.̵ ̵S̶a̶i̴d̶ ̵d̵a̶m̴a̵g̵e̷ ̴w̸i̸l̵l̴ ̷m̷a̸k̴e̸ ̶i̵t̶ ̶d̷i̸f̶f̷i̷c̶u̴l̶t̶ ̶t̸o̴ ̴r̸e̷t̶a̴i̶n̸ ̶s̸o̵m̷e̷ ̸c̸o̴n̶s̶c̸i̴o̸u̶s̵n̶e̴s̸s̷ ̷u̵p̶o̸n̶ ̶b̴a̶c̷k̶u̴p̸.̵"̷

"̵B̵u̴n̶k̵e̷r̷'̴s̶ ̴g̵o̷n̵e̴.̶.̷.̷t̶h̷e̷r̶e̶'̸s̴ ̷n̴o̶ ̷p̷o̴i̷n̶t̶ ̴i̴n̶ ̵b̸a̷c̷k̵ ̸u̶p̵ ̴a̵n̷y̶w̸a̶y̸.̷"̶

"̷9̸.̸.̴.̴9̵S̶…̵I̴'̵m̷ ̸s̷o̷r̷r̷y̶…̸"̸

When 2B least expected it, two infected androids attacked her and in those moments she thought were her last, she heard a familiar voice yell out, "BLIZZARD!"

"You've seen better days, 2B."

When 2B saw Sora standing before her with his arm extended out, it was as if a light had shined down on her. "Don't worry. Whatever's going on with you, we'll figure it out together!"

"Sora what are you...never mind...there's nothing you can do for me, this virus will be the death of me."

"A virus? Nothing I can't fix!" He pointed his keyblade at 2B, then enunciated 'Esuna'. All of a sudden, blue spheres of energy circled around the YoRHa android and bright yellow light enveloped her.

"...oh..."

Pod 042: Virus successfully eliminated. Commencing factory reset in order to salvage remaining data

2B powered down, her head falling to her chest.

"Will she be okay?" Sora asked.

Pod 042: Unknown. Virus contamination has done irreparable damage

"I'm glad I was at least able to give her a fighting chance. Good thing I came when I did, now come on, let's get you somewhere safe." He wrapped his arms around her body. "Ugh, you're a lot heavier than you look!"

At the worst timing possible, the infected YoRHa androids broke out of Sora's blizzard spell and were about to attack the two of them, but their bodies were severed in half at, incidentally, the best timing possible.

"Hey A2," Sora said, he couldn't hide how much he was smiling at finally seeing her.

A2 transferred her sword into her database. "You came back, idiot."

"Guess I got lost on the way, ha ha..."

' _I can tell it's a sore spot for him, I'll drop it for now.'_ "...What happened to 2B?"

"A virus infected her, but I cured it."

"Of course you did." A2 approached 2B, then bent down to her level. ' _Even if he got rid of the virus, I'm sure it's done some serious damage to her.'_ She brushed the hair out of her face. ' _If Sora wasn't here, this could've gone a lot differently.'_

Without warning, 2B powered back on. "Enemy android identified, initiating immediate execution." Summoning Virtuous Contract, she stabbed A2 straight through her chest, then ripped her sword out of her body, satisfied with her job.

"NO, A2!" Sora stood in fierce protection of A2. "How could you 2B...A2's your friend and you cut her down like she was nothing! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!" His heart was pounding on his chest and he felt that rush of adrenaline surge through his veins. If 2B were any other android, he would've already been taken over by rage mode, but he kept his emotions in check for her sake. Otherwise, there was no telling what he would do and apart of him still foolishly believed the real 2B would come to her senses.

Before 2B could answer, the ground trembled due to a sudden earthquake, but one voice called out to 2B and it came from the bridge. 9S's shaky voice reached out to her '2B, 2B!' he kept yelling, but that name held no meaning to her.

"My official designation is 2E." She turned her back to 9S, then walked away.

"No- no 2B, don't leave me, no don't leave me again! 2B!" He tried to run after her, but numerous white pillars sprung out from the abyss, destroying the bridge he was standing on and he fell down into the ravine, screaming 2B's name.

It was Sora who yelled, "9S!" and it was Sora who wanted to save him while 2B abandoned her friends. Even if they were on bad terms, it's not like Sora wanted his android counterpart to die, but with A2 lying in a pool of her own blood and his cure spells, at best, stopping the bleeding, Sora was afraid he'd lose her too.

Fortunately, two more androids showed up. "Go after him, we'll save A2," Devola said, holding A2's body in her arms.

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death of YoRHa**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally finished pre-planning everything and the story will end at chapter 35 or sooner depending on what I decide goes on the chopping block. So there are about 11 more chapters left give or take and that includes all the sidequests y'all wanted me to do. I've been planning a sequel/spinoff set in the Drakengard 3 world, but more details on that later.


	25. Ex-YoRH[A] | [A]HЯoY-xƎ

Pod 042: Error: Unable to contact the Bunker. It is no longer able to be reached due to its destruction.

"...I see. If there's no YoRHa, I'll continue this fight on my own. Pod, locate any machines in the nearest vicinity."

Pod 042: I am concerned about the mental state of Unit 2B. Is there no query regarding the demise of the Bunker or the current whereabouts of Unit 9S? Memory archives detail a close—

"The previous version of me no longer exists so past affiliations with YoRHa have no bearing on my current objective. And for the last time..." She untied her visor, then discarded it on the forest floor. "My name is 2E."

Pod 042: Acknowledged Unit 2E. Searching...matches found. Marking locations of the highest machine concentration on map.

2E stepped on the visor on her way out of the area. ' _This is why emotions are prohibited.'_

* * *

*ring

*ring

Sora was waiting outside the infirmary when he felt his gummiphone vibrate in his pocket. Realizing who it was, he fumbled taking his phone out, then answered the call right away. "Kairi! I'm so happy to see you!"

It was a bittersweet feeling for Sora and Kairi to see each other again, although they tried to make it more sweet than bitter. They were both happy, of course, but that happiness was merely a facade to their irrevocable sadness knowing they were still worlds apart.

"Me too...and sorry I didn't call you sooner...my gummiphone got taken away so I had to use Naminé's."

"Why, did something happen to it?"

"No, this is gonna sound stupid, but I..." She reduced her voice to a whisper out of embarrassment. "I got grounded for skipping class, even though finding you is way more important! Ugh, anyways, how have you been, Sora? Tell me everything, I've been so worried about you that I haven't been able to get any rest! And Riku...well he's always gone. Even now."

"Uh, well, I'm okay I guess, but 2B went crazy and stabbed A2. She'll be fine with some rest, but watching all of that go down right in front of me and not knowing if A2 would live was...it was the worst feeling."

"Oh no, that sounds terrible. I know they had their differences, but I didn't think 2B would ever actually try and kill A2."

He shook his head. "I'm not sure if she really is 2B. She called herself 2E and acted like she didn't know anyone, I think her memory was wiped somehow."

"Her memory was wiped? Maybe Naminé could help you out, she does know a lot about memories- hey, Naminé!" Kairi waved her hand to Naminé who was drawing on the beach shore as she normally did.

She walked over to Kairi, then smiled at Sora. "Hello Sora!"

"It's good to see you Naminé, Kairi says you know a thing or two about memories."

"You'd know that best, wouldn't you Sora?"

"Hm?"

She let out a small laugh. "Never mind...memories are my specialty, so you asked the right person. What's the problem?"

"One of my friends got her memory erased."

"Hm, that's a tough one. I could re-chain your memories because they still existed, if hers are truly gone, then they can't come back."

"Oh..."

"But your friend's an android, right? All her memories would have existed as data so it may be possible to recover them, but computer stuff really isn't my thing so I wouldn't know for sure."

Sora sighed. "Well it's  _definitely_  not my thing either

"Good thing you're surrounded by androids. I'm sure they can figure something out."

"—Figure what out?"

Sora stumbled back, nearly dropping his phone from A2's sudden appearance. "Bwahh! A2, don't startle me like that! And- and aren't you supposed to be resting, what're you doing up?!"

"When have I ever 'rested' for...wait, what's that device you got there?"

"Um, nothing!"

She swiped the phone out of his hands, then held it out of his reach. "Who the hell is this?"

"I'm Naminé and you must be A2, right? Wow, I can't believe I'm talking to a real android, you're so human-like!"

"...how do you know my name?"

"Kairi told me you were the one with long hair and a scary face and I can see what she means by that!"

"Uh huh...what else did she say?"

"Also that you were a total—"

" _Totally_  great and awesome person!" Kairi butt in. "And I'm so glad you're okay A2, Sora had me worried about you."

"...where are you? The Night Kingdom has no sunlight."

"Well...um..."

"And wherever the hell you are, why isn't Sora there with you?!"

"Because it's complicated A2, that's why! Now give me my gummiphone back!" Sora jumped up to grab his phone, but A2 pulled her arm away at the last second.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's not complicated, you  _chose_  to be here because something kept you, didn't it? So what was it!"

"I'm not telling you!"

"You are if you don't want me to break this goddamn thing! Tell me the reason why you gave everything up just to rot here on this planet... that way I can destroy it!"

His shoulders sunk in defeat. "There's...there's a tracking device in me. I couldn't leave or the Commander would've found me and my friends and taken us all away."

Out of sheer, seething anger, A2 crushed Sora's gummiphone by accident, then handed the broken pieces back to him, mumbling 'sorry' under her breath. She left stomping out of the Resistance Camp, presumably to kill machines so she could release steam, while Sora mourned over the loss of his only connection back home. "Oh no...Kairi...I never even got to say goodbye."

"Aw, it's okay. We can fix that calling device," Popola said.

"And your tracking problem. Can't fix her bad attitude though," Devola said.

"Really? But how are you gonna get this tracking device out of me?"

Devola smirked. "We're gonna slice you open, sift through all your human guts, then yank it right out!"

As the color drained out of Sora's face, Popola shot Devola her usual irritated look whenever her sister said something messed up, which was becoming routine at this point. "Ignore her Sora, we're just going to use a highly concentrated EMP signal to destroy the tracking device. And you shouldn't have to worry about command tracking you down anyway, we heard the Bunker was destroyed. Still, it's better safe than sorry."

"So, it was destroyed after all..."

Popola thought it was best for Devola to not be anywhere near Sora so she tasked her with fixing his gummiphone while she neutralized the tracking device. It was a relatively short procedure, taking no longer than 20 minutes, Devola took about the same amount of time to both fix his phone and add a few touches of her own. Once Sora was back on his feet, she presented his gummiphone to him.

"Ta-dah! Your new and improved calling device, complete with self-directory advice, a GPS, and an extension to call us...that I hope you don't actually use." When she gave him his phone back, it was basically unrecognizable, now suiting an all-black color scheme and streamlined design. But Sora didn't mind, as long as he could still see his friends again, even if it was through a phone screen. "Ah, thank you so much! How were you able to do all of that so fast?"

"What do you mean? It's incredibly primitive technology, likely from the old world, I'm not sure how you even got a hold of something like that."

"Must've been a lucky find then...oh and, 9S will be okay, right?"

"He should be, no sign on when he'll wake up, but he's on track for his recovery."

"Alright, see ya guys and thanks again!" Sora backed away from them, then left the camp to find A2 waiting outside.

"You took your time," She said

"Yeah well maybe I wouldn't have taken so long if you didn't break my gummiphone in the first place!"

"Complain to me about it later, we're going to find 2B...or 2E now I guess with the way she acted."

"A2, this is for revenge, isn't it?"

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do, I know you A2, and it's a bad idea, we should try to recover her memories instead. Maybe the old 2B is still in there somewhere!"

' _He doesn't understand how data works, whatever, I'll go along with it so he'll get off my case.'_  "Fine. We'll go to the forest since that's where she ran off to."

' _A2's usually stubborn about these things, I'll keep a close eye on her just in case.'_  "Okay, it's been a while since I've been to the forest!"

"You haven't missed much. Just don't know how we're going to get across with the bridge destroyed."

"...hm, oh-oh, I have an idea and you're gonna love it A2!" Sora had that stupid grin on his face that let A2 know she wasn't going to love anything about his latest hare-brained scheme.

"...this is gonna suck."

Once they reached the giant gap separating the City Ruins from the Forest Kingdom, Sora grabbed A2 by the hand, jumped off the cliff, which was the point she blacked out, then used air step to close the distance and safely land on the other side. "See what did I tell you? You can thank me later!"

"...Maybe I can strangle you later! I swear you'd kill me before I could."

Sora sheepishly laughed. "I'll just use my glide next time. It'll be more up to your speed."

"Shut the hell up."

They continued their search deeper inside the forest, it was still as creepy and desolate as Sora remembered it. Without any machines or giant animals to populate the place, it seemed like a perfect place for heartless to infest the area, which kept him on edge for the inevitable encounter with his oldest adversaries.

"I knew it. This doesn't feel right..." A2 said.

"What doesn't feel right?!" Sora summoned his keyblade. "Let's destroy it!"

She shook her head. "Slow down kid, I meant that my body feels so bare without my coat now, I wish it didn't get all bloody and messed up."

"To be fair, it was already in pretty bad shape before then."

"I just liked having clothes on my back again. Now I'm back to looking like shit."

"Aw don't say that, you look awesome with or without your coat! Look I'll show you," He fished his phone out of his pocket, then held it out in front of him and A2. "Whoa, she even upgraded the camera! Come on, get in the shot A2!"

"Why? What're you doing?"

"I'm taking a picture with both of us."

"I don't want to be apart of it."

"A2, pleeeease!"

"Ugh, fine if it makes you shut up."

"You have to smile too A2."

She slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

"...Good enough. Now, say cheese!" He snapped the picture, then showed it to A2. "See? Even though you're not really smiling you still look awesome!"

A2 looked away from Sora to hide her smile. "You ...didn't have to say that." She began walking ahead, only to pause and pull Sora behind a bush as a horse chariot heartless, aptly named Chaos Carriage, charged past them.  _'Great, those things again.'_

"How many times do I have to beat this guy, A2 stay back here, I got things handled!"

Begrudgingly, she stayed behind a bush for cover while Sora had all the fun and excitement of battle. _'Damn it._   _If I had that ridiculous weapon of his then maybe I wouldn't be so useless against them.'_

But A2's stuck-in-the-sidelines woes were soon rectified when she heard the ear-grating cries of machines shouting, "Hurrah! We will take back our kingdom and cower no more!" Upon closer inspection, she noticed two exiled forest machines operating the carriages of the heartless.

' _Now this is what I'm talking about. I can't get close with all the projectiles its shooting out so I'll have to go at it a different way.'_ With her sword in hand, she scaled one of the nearby trees, using it as a jumping off point to slam her sword right smack in the middle of the Chaos Carriage, destroying a machine on board.

In the meantime, Sora stacked enough damage with Favorite Deputy to transform his keyblade into Hyper Hammer. "Glad you're here A2, but I'd get out of the way if I were you!" He reeled the giant hammer back, prepared to smash in the head of the Chaos Carriage when the other machine yelled, "Now, initiate model Armaros-X!" The simple heartless drawn carriage was now reinforced with steel armor and equipped with automated turrets. Hyper Hammer did little more than make a dent in its armor and the heartless continued its rampage throughout the forest, taking Sora along for the ride.

"Fine, if this is the game you guys wanna play!" Sora forced himself inside one of the carriages, hanging on for dear life when the heartless tried to throw him off.  _'I have an idea!'_  He changed his keyblade to Hero's Origin, then hacked away at the heartless until it was able to throw him off for good. His prior attacks were enough to transform into counter shield where he guarded himself against the onslaught of bullets from the turrets.

' _This should be enough to one-shot that heartless. I just need to get close enough somehow, where's A2 when you need her?'_ He didn't have to look around for too long since A2 wasn't far behind, in fact, she was dodging the turrets aimed at her before striking down the last machine controlling the carriage of the heartless. ' _There she is.'_ "A2, can you distract that thing? I'll finish it off for good this time!"

Without any input from A2, the Chaos Carriage truly went chaotic and bulldozed itself all the way off a cliff while A2 was still riding one of its carriages. Sora followed after and fortunately, it landed down at the base of a small waterfall where A2 jumped out and Sora could finally obliterate it into a million pieces with the power of Wrathful Furry.

' _That power he has with that weapon, if only it were in more capable hands.'_ A2 was still resentful Sora had eclipsed her in terms of abilities in such a short period of time, but she couldn't stay mad at him for long when his goofy smile always managed to win her over. "Sora, it might be time to look somewhere else for 2E, something loud and destructive like that would've caught her attention. Wherever the hell she is..."

—

" _Wow, all those machines were destroyed with just pod fire, I have to say I'm impressed!" 2B said with a rare smile on her face, she then bent down and pet pod 042 causing it to twirl around._

_Pod 042: Report: Your affinity with this pod has reached its maximum level. Please note that excessive care is not necessary for combat-based activity. However, this unit has determined that it finds said excessive care most enjoyable._

_Pod 042: Pod 042 promises to protect YoRHa unit 2B in any situation. End report._

" _...And I'll do the same for you, always. You are my pod afterall."_

Time: 10:07

Location Confirmed: City Ruins, Near the Factory

Coordinates: 35.6762° N, 139.6503° E

**Begin transmission**

"...It's over." 2E returned her sword back to her manipulator, she regarded the crushed machine bodies as nothing more than a completed objective. "What purposeless lives machines lead, and yet there's no end to them." But as fast as she broke them apart, the machines rebuilt themselves with the aid of the black tendrils of smoke that slithered around them.

"Is that a new function? Pod, program R050: Spear."

In an unexpected move, the machines dismembered themselves to avoid puncturing their metal bodies, allowing the energy spears to impale the mass of darkness instead. "That looks like organic material. How strange." She remarked.

Pod 042: These enemies are known as 'Heartless', engaging them is ill-advised since only the humans possess the means to eliminate them. Proposal: Unit 2E should evacuate the premise.

"And what means are you talking about that humans have, but we don't?"

Pod 042: Key-shaped weapons designated as the 'Keyblade'. Known wielders include; "Sora", "Riku", and "Kairi", any further information on this weapon is unknown.

_"How could you 2B...A2's your friend and you cut her down like she was nothing! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!"_

"..."

"That kid, he was a human?" But there was little time to dwell on the information as the heartless possessed machine went in to attack 2E. When she tried to swing her sword back, the machines maneuvered past her, then struck her from behind. "Damn it!" She decided it was best to heed her pod's warning and climb up the massive skyscraper in retreat, than to lose her life fighting an unwinnable battle.

Perching on the top of the roof, 2E let her self-recovery system mend her wounds while she figured out her next objective. "Unbelievable. That traitorous A2 was in possession of a human, all the more reason her death was warranted. Is there any way to get a reading on him?"

Pod 042: Negative. The human possesses no tracking device with a traceable signal.

"I see. I assume he's drawn to those 'heartless'."

Pod 042: Affirmative.

"Then if more heartless keep taking these machines over, we'll be bound to cross paths eventually. Search for the nearest concentrated groups of high-level machines in the area."

Pod 042: It would be more productive to check on the recuperation of Unit 9S rather than pursuing the machines.

_"No- no 2B, don't leave me, no don't leave me again! 2B!"_

2E's hands balled into a fist. "... I don't need another android to kill." She whipped her head back to her pod. "And you need to keep your opinions in check or I will manually remove your ability to speak. Is that clear?"

Pod 042: Acknowledged. Searching...match to multiple high-level machines located in the Desert Zone.

"Good. And from now on, that's all I need to hear from you."

**End Transmission**

—

"Yeah you're right, we should head out of here. Maybe we'll run into her on our way or- hey, what's that's glowy thing over there?" Sora was drawn to the Lunar Tear that thrived in its cave enclosure, admiring its luminance. "Wow, it's a flower and it's so pretty. I've never seen anything like it!"

"It's a Lunar Tear..." A2 walked up from behind him. "Sora, give me your calling device."

"What- no way, not after the last time!"

"I said give it to me. I'm not gonna break it, I just need to dial someone."

"...okay," He reluctantly gave up his phone, then she contacted Emil via frequency signal.

"Hey there guys, what's up?" Emil said.

"I found that flower, it's-"

"Wait A2, is that you? I knew you'd come around. Stay right there, I'm coming!"

A2 threw Sora's phone back to him. "He better not take all day to get-"

"Sorry to keep you!" Emil said.

"GYAAA! H-Hey wait, I remember you," Sora said.

"So do I, long time no see! Funny that we meet again in this forest, this whole area was once...well the memory's a little fuzzy, but I seem to have a memory of caring for this flower a long time ago. But the sand kept expanding and the flower gradually wilted, now that I think about it, that was the same time I stopped seeing ... people."

"People...like humans?" Sora asked.

"You must be ancient then," A2 said.

"Ha ha, I probably am. Thank you for finding this though, really, I feel more and more of my memories slowly piecing itself together. Let me know if you find any more, okay? I'm gonna...stay here for a bit."

"Memories, huh? Emil, you mind if I pick your brain," Sora said.

"I don't have one, but go ahead!"

"If someone lost their memory, do you think it would be possible to recover it or is it gone forever?"

"Not sure, I think it depends on a lot of things. I've been regaining my memories because those flowers remind me of my past, but I also have to be willing to remember my past, or it won't matter how many keepsakes I have, they'll all just be blocked out in the end."

"...I see, thank you."

"No problem!"

Sora turned to A2. "So she also has to put in the effort to remember... A2, I think helping Emil with his memories might also give us an idea on how to help 2B."

"I have no interest in helping her."

"I know, but it can't be good for her to be 2E, or whatever that means."

"It means she's an executioner type android, 2B was likely just a guise to hide in plain sight, her true nature has always been 2E."

"But 2B was more than just her programming, and if she's back to her old self, then at least she won't ever hurt you like that again."

"Oh, I  _highly_  doubt that." She crossed her arms. "Listen, let's just find Emil's flowers for him and if we run into 2E along the way, well that's killing two machines with one sword."

"That's fair. You know, I'm glad you're finally coming around and willing to help people like Emil for once!"

"Stupid fetch quests always have a big reward at the end and I  _really_  need booze money."

"A2! We're gonna have to talk about you and your alcoholism."

"I rather get stabbed again then- ... what's that?" She bent down to pick up a tattered piece of black fabric, clenching it in her fist afterward when she realized what it was. "This is hers..."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death Of Memories**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a faster update than usual bc I probably won't release the next chapter until the end of the month, I'm going back to school unfortunately:,)


	26. [T]reasured Memories

Pod 153: YoRHa Unit 9S had completed repair and reconstruction of all damaged areas. Unit is ready for reactivation.

Pod 042: No update in regards to Unit 2E, however unit has adopted an aggressive disposition in interaction with past relations. Proposal: Pod 153 should periodically review the mental state of unit 9S as will I for Unit 2E.

Pod 153: Acknowledged.

Pod 042: Despite the circumstances, Units 2E and 9S are safe.

Pod 153: No problems detected.

Pod 042: Only one issue remains. We comprise the YoRHa support system. If the 2E and 9S units are operational, we are required to attend and support.

Pod 153: Agreed.

Pod 042: Displaying position of Unit 2E...

Time: 15:36

Location Confirmed: Desert Zone

Coordinates: 42.7952° N, 105.0324° E

**Begin Transmission**

"There really is nothing in here...then again, why would there be? My memory was erased, no record of the past version of me exists."

_But you desire to know who you once were, don't you?_

"You're wrong. YoRHa aren't allowed to show emotion, I have no desire for anything."

_We were made in the likeness of humans, we all have desires and you're no exception...or should I say I'm no exception._

Then 2B appeared in front of her.

"I only think of the mission at hand, who I once was has no bearing on what I'm doing right now."

_That's not true. You hide your emotions and run away from 2B because you're afraid of —_

It took 2E to slash through the data reconstruction of 2B for her to realize she was cutting through nothing and was still in the desert, standing before Hegel's destroyed centipede body. Keeping herself composed, she retired her sword to its holster, continuing business as usual. "...Pod. Find me the next set of machines."

Pod 042: Searching...match to multiple high-level machines located in...

**End Transmission**

Pod 042: It appears that 2E's memory

Pod 042: is in conflict with itself.

Pod 042: Currently monitoring progress

Pod 042: to analyze the effect.

Pod 153: Hold, Pod 042

Pod 153: Issue detected in your conversational functionality.

Pod 153: Numerous machine lifeforms whose network functions

Pod 153: were destroyed remain out of control.

Pod 153: Please take caution.

Pod 042: Similar issue detected in your conversational functionality as well

Pod 153: ...Cease communication Pod 042

Pod 042: Affirmative

* * *

" _Back when the aliens first invaded...I fought as hard as I could to save Earth. I think...I had something I wanted to protect. Something really precious to me. But I don't know what it was."_

. . .

"This place brings back memories," A2 said.

The vibrant fireworks bombarding the bleak sky with splashes of color, the eroded amusement park rides standing in defiance to time, and one of its most unique features; the machines dancing in perfect sync to the theme park music. It was hard to forget a place like the Amusement Park, and it was even harder to forget the events that unfolded on the park grounds that separated Sora and A2 again due to Adam's interference. But now they were together, and stronger, nothing could ever come in between the two, except themselves.

"Yeah, who could forget you getting major motion sickness on the teacups!" Sora teased.

The sheer look of murder A2 gave Sora was enough to get him to back off. "...The next flower should be down this alleyway," A2 said, then she spotted the white glow of the Lunar Tear hidden away in the corner of an empty lot.

"I'll give Emil a call!" He dialed his frequency. "Hey Emil we found another Lun-"

"Don't move! I'll be right there!" And within moments, he was there. "Sorry to keep you!"

"Great hustle kid," A2 said.

"Geez, I don't think I'll ever get used to how fast you are. So what's the story with this Lunar Tear?"

"...I was fighting the aliens. It wasn't going well, so I decided to create multiple versions of myself to help with the fight, but the aliens just kept coming. I lost so many friends that day...it was a long time ago, but still."

"I know what you mean. It's hard losing friends, no matter how long ago it was."

He sighed. "I just wish I remembered who those friends were...well, thank you again for finding this, let me know if you find any others, okay? I'm gonna stay here for a while."

"You got it! So where's the next stop, A2?"

"The Desert, and it's the last one."

"The Desert? Seriously, man, I feel like we're always going to that place!"

"Quit complaining. The faster we get there, the faster we leave." _'And then I can get what I'm really after.'_  She could already feel the intoxicating liquid trickle down her throat and the mind-numbing effects it would soon have on her body.

Sora rested his hands behind his head. "I'm just happy Emil's regaining all his memories again. I know exactly what it feels like to lose your memories so I'm glad we're playing a part in helping remember."

"No, memory loss sounds nice actually, I wish I could forget the time you stood up after bathing and showed everyone your —"

"WOW we're already at the Desert, we cover ground fast, don't we?! Ha ha ha..."

"Uh-huh...we are going faster than usual without your human problems to lag us behind. It's like you can't go a few days without eating or drinking."

"How do you  _still_  not understand how humans work? You weren't listening at all, were you?"

"What?"

"See, you're not listening now!"

"Someone sounds pissed. Look, I can get you a fresh plate of fish guts after this mission is over with."

"Ewww, fish guts? A2...you're the worst sometimes!"

"It's one of my many great qualities."

They made it to the border area with the disjointed oil pipes and buildings nearly sunken all the way into the desert when the sand began shifting more than it usually did. "Something's up," A2 said, readying her sword.

A2 expected a machine or two to pop out of the sand, not for several white creatures she'd never seen before to emerge out of hiding. They were somewhere in between life and death, existence and nonexistence, a foe that Sora knew all too well. "Nobodies!" He tightened the grip on his keyblade, then ran ahead to combat them.

While Sora had encountered many distinct Nobodies before in his past adventures, these types of Nobodies had no definite shape because they kept changing form. One moment they looked like monstrous dragons, the next they were in uncanny valley levels of resemblance to humans, but what remained consistent was the different weapons each of them wielded and the only thing Sora focused on. He clashed blades first with a Nobody wielding a death scythe. ' _That's the weapon Marluxia's Nobodies would've used, but we already defeated him. There's no way he could've come back, especially not here.'_

He pulled back, then dodged an attack coming from behind by a Nobody wielding a trident. ' _A trident? None of the Organization members even used a weapon like that.'_  A Thundaga-sword combo attack dealt with the first two nobodies, then Blizzaga would've taken out the other two Nobodies, but they evaded the icy blast by deconstructing their bodies down into blocks.

Fortunately, A2 was right behind the Nobodies so she batted her sword at the chunk of magical ice and returned it to them, freezing the rest of the Nobodies. Then she finished it off with a clean slice that severed through them in just one swing.

"Why do those things have the same weapons as that human-looking machine with the glasses? I thought we killed him," A2 said.

"Human looking...oh, you mean Adam! Wait, did he...did he actually turn into a Nobody?!"

"You're asking me as if I know."

"Well, he did turn into a heartless before so it's not impossible... we might have to face him again if that's the case."

"We  _killed_  him, you don't just come back from that. I don't know what the hell a 'Nobody' is, but this is probably just something from the machine network. Besides, we got more important things to worry about."

"Getting money to buy alcohol isn't important, A2."

"Who the hell asked you?!" She snapped.

"But you're right, we need to help Emil ... and find 2B."

"—Then why don't I make your job easier." 2E approached them with her sword drawn. "A2, I thought I killed you. No matter, it should be just as easy the second time around."

"You'll be sorry you said that when I chop your goddamn head off!" Dragging Iron Will across the sand, A2 bolted for 2E who held her position.

"A2, hold on! Maybe we can-"

"Pod, A150: Volt." 2E stepped back while her pod moved forward, once A2 got in range, it transformed into a deadly electrical weapon that electrocuted her body with enough voltage to bring her down to her knees.

"Damn it...you always did go for the cheap shots," A2 said under her breath.

2E brandished her sword, holding the blade to her neck. "I'll make sure you stay dead this time."

With A2's life on the line, Sora didn't hesitate to knock 2E's sword away and point his keyblade at her. "I don't care if you lost your memories...you're done hurting A2, your fight's with me now!"

"...You're the human. I'll allow you to give yourself up to me, otherwise, I'm not above using force if necessary. An android's job is to protect humans from danger, not bring them closer to it."

"You're the one who's dangerous! I don't know what happened to you, but this isn't who you are!" Sora swiped his sword at 2E and she backed away in order to evade it. A move that Sora immediately took advantage of because from that point onwards, he swung his sword back, again and again, forcing her to fall on her defense.

"Not bad, human," She managed to push Sora back, then aim her pod at him. "Pod A1-" She abruptly jumped out of the way, narrowly missing A2's sword.

"You're still functioning? Looks like I've underestimated you."

"Nice try, but I've already been electrocuted before! This is nothing!" Now that it was A2's turn to pursue 2E, she held nothing back, able to get a few deep cuts across 2E's chest at the cost of her enduring bullet hell from her pod. She could maneuver past most of the constant firing and whatever she couldn't she just brushed off, fueled by her own revengeful desire to cut 2E down.

"What a nuisance you are, traitor." 2E did a particularly underhanded move by flat out tripping A2, then sticking her sword through her arm so she couldn't move away easily. "Let's end this. Pod, A130-"

"I got your back A2!" With the hits he got in on 2E before, he transformed his keyblade into Ex-Machina and launched the giant machine arms to restrain her.

"You two can put up a fight."

"I'm not done yet. Ex-Machina, speed boost!"

The machine arms powered on and fired 2E straight into the desert rock wall behind them. "Now, let's go Blizzard!" While the machine arms still held a grasp on 2E, they froze her body to the wall, then they finally returned to Sora as he was running up to her.

"We don't have to keep fighting anymore if you just stop this! The 2B I knew was strong and kind...she was my friend, and I want to have the real you back!"

"You say that as if I ever want to have those memories again, no, the real me is the one that exists in this very moment. Pod, A110: Slow." An energy field enclosed Sora and 2E in a time vortex, but Sora was the only one affected by it, once 2E broke out of the ice encasement she went in for a follow up attack a few seconds later. "Initiate A090: Wire with capture modification."

Her pod shot a wire that wrapped tightly around Sora, then she picked him up. "No, let me go right now or you're in for it!"

"Struggle and the wire gets tighter." Was all 2E said to him as she carried him away.

"—Where the HELL do you think you're going!" Ripping the sword out of her hand, she struggled to stand up on her feet, the damage she accumulated throughout the battle catching up to her. "Bring him back...right now."

"You just don't know when to quit. Fine, this will be the last time you ever get up." She set Sora down, then summoned her sword. "Pod, fire missile launch."

Pod 042: Affirmative

A continuous round of missiles exploded on A2, but she kept limping forward despite all odds stacked against her because she refused to go down until Sora was safe. It was near impossible for Sora to watch when he desperately wanted to be by her side instead of watching helplessly on the sidelines. "A2! NO! NO..." Although he knew attempting to struggle free would only tighten the wires around him, he did so anyway, because anything, even the pain felt better than doing nothing. _'It's no use, then I just have to believe in her.'_  "Go A2! Don't stop, I know you can do it!"

"Shut up...Sora..." A2 held her hung low.  _'I just need her to move closer to me, then she's mine.'_

"Unbelievable." Taking matters into her own hands, 2E made her way to A2 with Virtuous Treaty.

Right before the blade could slash through A2, she guarded herself with her own sword, then in a bold move, grabbed 2E's sword with her bare hands when the momentum was lost. A2 yanked her close. "Sorry, but I don't lose." When she went into Berserk Mode, everything went by in the blink of an eye. She snatched 2E by the face, dragged her over to the oil pipeline, slammed her down on it as hard as she could, crushing the structure and hopefully 2E's head as well.

With the dwindling strength she had left, A2 grabbed Sora, then escaped into hiding. Whatever happened, the wires around Sora dispersed into nothingness.

' _It doesn't feel like I sustained any serious injuries.'_  2E rolled over to her back, then to her feet. "Pod, geo-tag A2's black box signal."

"..."

"I said geo-tag A2's black box signal while she's still in the immediate area."

"..."

"Don't make me repeat my—" 2E paused when she saw Pod 042's crushed robotic body lying on the desert ground. ' _It must've gotten behind me at the last second to take the brunt of the impact.'_

Bending down in the sand, 2E brushed her hand over the pod. "You ... protected me." Instead of continuing to search for Sora and A2, she scooped up all the bits and pieces in her arms, then A2 watched 2E leave the desert from behind a building buried in the sand.

A2 breathed a sigh of relief at her departure, focusing her attention back on Sora. "...You okay, kid?"

"Don't worry about me, why...why did you do something so reckless?!"

"Because I ...I wanted to." When she finally collapsed on the sand, thick steam poured out of the crevices of her body.

"No...no, you gotta stay with me A2! I'll...I'll bring you back to the Resistance Camp and they'll fix you right up, just don't give up on me...please." After casting 'Regen' on A2, Sora wrapped his arms around her, then pulled her away. ' _I need to go faster, but she's too heavy for me to carry, there has to be some other...'_ His frantic thoughts trailed off when he spotted the last Lunar Tear growing on the cliffside of a desert rock formation.

' _Maybe Emil can help.'_ He set A2 down. "I'm not leaving you, I'll be right back." He scaled the cliffside then plucked the flower right off the bedrock.

Somehow, despite Sora not even calling Emil yet, he was already there waiting at the bottom with one last nostalgic trip down memory processor lane.

"E-Emil, whoa you got here fast...anyways, I need your help! A2's in really bad shape and I have to get her to the Resistance Camp!"

"Where is she?"

"Over there, follow me!"

Sora showed A2 to Emil. "Think you can help me?" He asked.

"Of course I will, in fact... I think I can fix her up myself. When I saw that last Lunar Tear...I remembered this important place, a healing place. Sora, take all this stuff out of my trunk, then load her on."

"Got it." Once he moved the junk out, he moved A2 inside, then held onto the side of the vehicle. "Alright, let's go!"

"Yeah...no. It's heavy enough with A2, you're gonna have to walk on foot."

"Oh, right, sorry about that." He jumped off. "Alright,  _now_  let's go!"

...

_I always seem to find myself in this never-ending void._

_But it's not as dark as it used to be,_

_now that I have a light to guide me._

...

When A2 woke up, she saw the glow of hundreds of Lunar Tears surrounding her, shining a light on the darkness she found herself in. ' _What is this place?'_  Since her eyes were already programmed to automatically adjust to the darkness, she made out the small shack she was in along with all the various wares from the old world lining the walls. What threw her off was what appeared to be an oversized machine head staring back at her.

"Beep-beep, YoRHa android has activated," The 'machine' said in an obviously fake robotic voice.

A2 responded by punching the lights out of the machine head.

"OW! You didn't have to hit me so hard A2!" He took the machine head off, then rubbed his cheek. "Man, you really weren't holding back."

"Why...the hell...were you wearing a machine head?"

"You probably won't like the sound of this but..." Sora sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I was just trying to be funny...guess it didn't work out."

"...I should punch you again just for saying that!"

"Haha, I figured you'd say something like that. Well, I'm just glad you're doing okay at least."

She heard the humming sound of an engine running and Emil's soft voice accompanying it. "Yeah, I'm surprised how put-together your body is, all I had to do was run a Cure All + Heal All and your condition stabilized almost immediately."

"I've been worked on before, pretty sure the shitty parts have gotten replaced by now."

"Then whoever does maintenance on you does an awesome job!"

"...why did you take me here?"

"Because I wanted to show you the place from my memories that I worked so hard to protect...or, to be exact, the place protected by the person I used to be."

"Who's the person you used to be?" Sora asked.

"Where do I begin with that one... well, a long time ago, I was created to be a weapon…"

_["You know...when I was young. I...I hated my eyes."]_

"A weapon that could adapt to any environment, and one capable of total destruction."

_["And now that I'm older, I hate what my body has become."]_

"You're...a weapon?"

"When the war against the aliens started, I decided to strengthen that weapon by creating copies of myself. So in truth, I'm only one of a countless number of Emils."

"Wish I could do that," A2 said.

"There was a price to pay, however, the more of ourselves we created, the more of our original memories began to fade."

_["But there's something else there now. Something like...pride, you know? I mean, without all this...I couldn't have become your friend."]_

He wheeled around inside the shack. "The original Emil liked this place a lot, he spent a lot of time here with the people he loved. They were tough times...sad times…but the memories of that journey were his greatest treasure. And I have a few traces of those memories in my own mind."

_["For so long, all I could do was destroy. But now, I have a chance to save something."]_

"So where's the original Emil?" Sora asked.

"No idea, there were so many of us that after a while, we just lost sense of ourselves, but... never mind, I should probably repay you for all your help. Please, take this."

"Now we're talking," A2 said.

"Emil's Memories" Complete

-Quest Reward-

Lunar Tear x 1

1,550 EXP

"It's said that a Lunar Tear can make any wish come true."

"...all this trouble for a goddamn flower and whatever the hell EXP is supposed to be?!"

"I don't know why A2, but you're really familiar, maybe it's because you're scary just like she was. Maybe even scarier!"

"You should start backing off or I'll give you something to be scared about."

"Ha ha, you're both cut from the same cloth. If it's some G you're after, there's plenty in the chest behind the shack, just be careful not to step on any- and there she goes."

"Is this girl you're talking about...is she one of your friends?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, but her name slips me...and it feels like I failed her because the memories of her are the ones Emil held most dear to him. The least I could do is remember her name..."

"It's okay, I'm sure it'll come to you sooner or later." Sora pulled his Wayfinder—a gift from Kairi to represent the unbreakable connection they had with each other. "You know...I've been forgotten before too, but Kairi...even when she forgot about me, she never stopped wanting to find those memories of me again."

He clenched the Wayfinder in his hand. "That's how I know you'll remember her too because your hearts are connected."

"Huh, I...never really thought about it like that. Maybe I'm not the original Emil, but we're all connected to one another in some way...and now I'm connected to you too, Sora. "

"That's right, so you don't ever have to worry about being alone again!"

"Thank you my friend, you helped me find some of my precious memories, so now I'll be able to keep pushing forward. Oh- one more thing, I almost forgot, I noticed that strange weapon of yours that resembles a YoRHa blade, it has magical properties, doesn't it? I can upgrade it for you if you'd like."

Sora's Weight of the World manifested in his hand. "You mean this?"

"Yep, you can put it in my trunk. Funny how your weapon can change forms like that...so, uh, I bet traveling around with A2 must get crazy huh," Emil said.

"Sometimes, but usually she's super overprotective and makes sure nothing happens to me."

"You think it's real?"

"Hm?"

"How she feels about you, I mean. She's an android so..."

He shook his head. "She's the only one that I know it's real. All of it, the good, the bad, she's genuine about it ... and no matter what, I always feel happy when I'm around her."

"I'm glad to hear it, it's hard to come by people like that, believe me...alright, it's done." Emil presented the new and improved keyblade to Sora, 'new and improved' in that there was a slight stat boost. "I upgraded it for you without charge, but I'm gonna need some materials next time."

"No problem, thank you Emil! Hey A2, you about ready to go?"

A2 walked up to him, quiet, with a contemplative look on her face.

"What's up, A2?"

"All this talk of memories..." She scoffed. "It's stupid... but this place reminds me of this girl who lived on a farm with her grandma, I don't know her and yet..."

"It's Kainé...that was her name," Emil said, his voice shaking. "I remember it now. Kainé. Thank you, you don't know how much it means to me to say her name again."

"Yeah whatever, let's get out of here already."

"Please, feel free to come back anytime, you're always welcome!"

Sora waved goodbye to Emil as the two of them boarded the elevator, then when the doors closed, he looked back to A2. "I think that right there was worth it, don't you think?"

"No."

"Don't tell me you were just in it for the reward!"

"...Sora. I heard what you said about me to Emil...so, uh ...was that all true?"

"Of course it was, I meant every word I said because it's true!"

She broke eye contact with him, lowering her eyes to the floor. "...You need to learn how to keep your mouth shut...saying stuff like that is embarrassing."

"Ah, sorry... so what's the plan after this? Are we going to look for 2B again?"

"Pursuing 2E is a waste of time and resources, there's nothing more we can do for her...and I'm sick of looking at her face. After I re-supply at the camp, I'm just going to fight machines until I get wrapped up in some other shit."

"For once, that's actually not a bad plan you have there, A2."

"Yeah I...wait, what do you mean by 'for once'?"

"I want to find out more about where those Nobodies came from and machines have a habit of attracting enemies so they might be my best bet. Worst case scenario...Adam really is a Nobody."

—

Pod 153: Commencing data exchange with Pod 042.

Pod 153: Pod 042?

[Pod 042's connection is offline]

Pod 153: ...

Pod 153: Unit is ready for reactivation...

" _2B...2B! Wait, please, don't let me go!"_

" _My official designation is_ _ **2E**_ _."_

Then he woke up. The sky was still the same, the Resistance Camp was still the same, the world still turned the same way and everyone continued their same routine. Only he knew nothing would ever be the same again.

Popola noticed 9S stir awake and waved over to Devola. "Looks like he's up, Dev."

She went over to 9S's bedside. "Mornin'. Slept well, didn't ya 9S?"

9S sat up on the infirmary cot, swinging his legs over to the side. The first thing he did was tie his visor over his eyes. "I'm ...in the Resistance Camp?"

"That's right. You've been unconscious for nearly 48 hours," Popola said. "And that time would've been longer if not for Sora."

"But we did the hard part, so a little thank you for saving your butt would be nice," Devola said.

Devola and Popola were still the same too.

"...2B's gone, isn't she?"

Popola gave 9S a sympathetic look while Devola turned her head the other way.

"Well, she's still alive so that's good," Popola said.

"But not the 2B I know..."

"Her body undergoing a factory reset was the only way she could function properly, the rest of her data was likely corrupted beyond repair from the logic virus. I understand how you feel though, to have someone you deeply care about not even recognize you...that's even worse, huh?"

"It's not like this hasn't happened before, we've both been reset so many times from our bodies being destroyed, but 2B's  _never_  called herself 2E. Even through all the resets, that part of her never changed..." He stood up. "Devola, Popola, thank you."

"Where are you going?"

"...to find my 2B."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death Of Repose**

Transformation 1: Ex-Machina

Weight of the World

**Lv. 2**

Strength: 7

Magic: 4

**Weapon Story 2:**

only thinking of you

_How long do I have to hide beneath a mask?_

_How long do I have to play pretend?_

_Tell me when your heart is up to the task,_

_Tell me when these suppressed feelings will end._

_Because I can't hide this longing anymore._

_Because our love is forever at war._

* * *

?-?-?: 2E's continued existence threatens the proceeding chain of events.

?-?-?: Nothing that can't be easily dealt with. 9S will pursue 2E and the modifications we made to the Soul Box Resource Recovery Unit will lead them to destroy one another.

?-?-?: However, the human's interference will likely result in failure of the plan. Inevitably, he is an uncontrolled variable.

?-?-?: No matter, the new modifications were designed with the human in mind. In fact, we're hoping he'll interfere because if the Soul Box ends in failure then the 'Creation Box' will begin construction.

"...Creation Box, huh?" Accord wrote it down in her book. ' _That's definitely a new one and it doesn't sound good. I'll stay here as long as I can to find out more about it until they realize my presence.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like revealing what the next chapter will be about, but as a heads up, it will feature certain story elements and characters from the RE:mind dlc so be aware of possible spoilers if you haven't caught up yet.


	27. The [W]orld Ends With You

On his way to find 2E, 9S came across a massive ivory white tower at the center of the City Ruins, his curiosity got the better of him so he decided to take a closer look. "Huh, what's that?"

Pod 153: A facility that appears to be machine related in origin, it surfaced following the destruction of the Bunker, further details are unknown.

"If it's machine related, then I better investigate." After finishing off the machines in the surrounding area, he approached the Tower and attempted to hack into it.

?-?-?: Hello, and thank you for choosing Tower System Services! We apologize for the inconvenience, but locks on each subunit must be deactivated before accessing the main Tower. Have a great day!

Pod 153: Query: What is the motive for a machine lifeform to provide such an announcement?

"No idea," He went over to one of the sub-units. "Maybe it'll work if I hack into this one."

That method didn't work either and 9S was once again denied access. "Hey, what gives!"

?-?-?: Hello and thank you again for choosing Tower System Services! Special authorization keys are required to access Tower sub-unit. We apologize for the inconvenience, but access is not permitted at this time.

?-?-?: However, today we have a special gift for first-time visitors of this tower; a tour of our brand new Resource Recovery Units! We look forward to serving you again!

"...Where did that come from?" 9S asked.

Pod 153: It was a forced message from the enemy system- said message relays the location of objects known as 'Resource-Recovery Units'. These structural units have been detected in multiple areas.

"What's their function?"

Pod 153: Unknown.

"Well, if they're connected to machines, then I have to get rid of them, and I'm sure 2B will do the same. Mark each of those units on my map."

* * *

**DESTINY ISLANDS**

It was yet another beautiful day in Destiny Islands, not a single cloud in the sky, the seagulls were squawking, the ocean waves moved calmly...Kairi and Aqua were in the middle of an intense sparring match. Although it was only intense on Kairi's side because Aqua was deflecting  _all_  of her incoming attacks one after the other, not giving the poor girl an inch.

So Kairi had the idea to teleport behind Aqua and catch her off guard. "Please work!" But when she got behind Aqua, her keyblades inches away from landing, she jumped away at the last second. "Aw, shit!"

"Language, Kairi!"

"Oh- I'm so sorry Master Aqua!"

Aqua landed back on the ground. "You need to do more than just get behind your opponent to catch them off guard."

"Then how about this!" She threw her keyblade so that it spun in a windmill motion, of course Aqua could easily dodge such a telegraphed attack. Which was exactly what Kairi was hoping for because she teleported behind Aqua while she was dodging and managed to get a hit on her from the side. "Gotcha that time, didn't I?"

"Very good, you've made so much progress in such a short amount of time."

"Thanks, so do you think we can start fighting with magic now? I've learned a ton of new spells that I've been wanting to try out!"

"If you're ready, then so am I."

"Awesome! Try not to hold back on me Master, I know magic's your specialty, but I want to be pushed to my limit!"

She smiled. "I'll try my best."

Soon the beach came alive from the assortment of magic they used on each other. One moment the sand was fiery red from a last-minute fire spell, the next, the water froze over from a misdirected blizzard spell, or the sky flashed yellow from thunder, but they weren't the only ones who witnessed the light show. Aqua's friends; Terra and Ventus, were watching the two battle it out from the sidelines, as well as Naminé with her sketching pad in hand, always there to support Kairi. Even if that meant having a fried seagull land in her lap because Kairi wasn't paying attention with her thunder spells.

"Wow, I didn't know Kairi was so strong, she's really holding her own out there," Ventus said.

"Aqua's a good teacher, maybe you should start training under her," Terra said.

"Terra!"

"What? We're going to the Realm of Darkness soon, and you could use the practice."

"That's so not cool, I can run circles around you if I wanted to!"

As the boys bickered back and forth, Kairi and Aqua's match progressed to the point where Kairi had run out of magic, mostly due to her spamming 'Thunder' and 'Water' to no avail and she was condemned to MP charge hell while Aqua had more than enough magic left to end the fight in just a few moves.

"Don't be careless with your magic, more is less if you can hit your target with a few powerful attacks," Aqua said.

"This isn't over yet!" ' _I've fought with less before, I just have to evade her attacks until I can use magic again.'_  Kairi darted back and forth across the sand, maneuvering past Aqua's shotlock, Bubble Blaster, aided by a few well-timed guards and her quick movement.

Then, just as she was on the cusps of regaining her magic, Aqua raised her keyblade in the air and a wave of black energy cascaded over Kairi clouding her vision to prevent her from attacking any further.

"That was Blackout, in case you were wondering. I can teach it to you after our match," Aqua said.

"..."

 _"_ _T̶h̷i̸s̷ ̴a̷n̷d̷r̷o̵i̷d̶'̷s̴ ̸j̶u̴s̸t̶ ̸w̵h̸a̸t̵ ̸w̴e̴ ̸n̷e̵e̵d̷ ̷t̵o̷ ̶f̷u̶l̵f̴i̸l̶l̸ ̸o̶u̶r̶ ̵r̶i̴t̶u̷a̸l̴.̴ ̵O̸n̵c̴e̶ ̷h̵e̷r̶ ̵b̶o̶d̸y̷ ̷i̷s̸ ̷r̵e̴b̵o̶r̵n̵ ̶a̸s̷ ̵t̶h̵e̶ ̸h̷e̶a̶r̷t̸l̵e̷s̸s̴,̷ ̸w̶e̶'̶l̶l̸ ̶b̸e̸c̸o̷m̶e̶ ̷o̵n̸e̵ ̷w̵i̷t̴h̷ ̸h̶e̷r̷ ̵b̸e̵i̶n̶g̴ ̷i̶n̷ ̷t̶h̶e̷ ̴d̴a̸r̶k̶n̴e̶s̸s̷.̴"̸_

_̷"̷D̸o̶n̴'̵t̷ ̶c̸r̷y̴,̷ ̴i̷t̶'̴l̶l̸ ̵a̸l̷l̶ ̵b̷e̵ ̵o̴v̵e̸r̴ ̷s̸o̸o̶n̸ ̵a̶n̵d̴ ̷t̸h̸e̷n̴ ̵y̴o̶u̷'̷l̶l̶ ̵n̷e̴v̴e̸r̴ ̸f̵e̴e̸l̷ ̸s̴u̴c̵h̸ ̴t̵e̶r̴r̴i̴b̶l̶e̵ ̵e̵m̷o̸t̶i̸o̷n̷ ̴a̴g̴a̴i̷n̷.̵"̸_

All Kairi could see was the darkness and all she could feel was her breath getting shorter and her chest getting tighter. A rush of emotions she kept hidden within her heart released all at once that forced her body to move forward. Clenching her keyblade, she gunned down for Aqua, even though she was effectively blinded from Blackout, her blade still managed to find Aqua's.

"Kairi...are you okay?"

"I WON'T LET YOU KILL ME!" With nothing to hold her back, Kairi relentlessly attacked Aqua, shattering through her defense with a few swings. She then lit her keyblade on fire, which forced Aqua to grab Kairi by the hand.

"We're done Kairi, it's okay, you're safe."

The effects of the spell went away, but the dark feeling that pushed her over the edge still lingered inside her like an infection. Kairi lowered her head to avoid Aqua's gaze because of how ashamed she was that she lost herself and came so close to hurting her own friend. "I'm sorry..." She said slowly.

"—Kairi!" Naminé ran up to her along with Terra and Ventus, then put her hands on her shoulders. "Kairi, what's gotten into you?"

"I'm not sure...when everything went black, something inside me switched on."

"...This is because of what happened on Earth, isn't it?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, maybe, but this was me...I did this."

"Kairi, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened to you on Earth?" Aqua asked.

"It was like living in one of those nightmares that gets worse and worse as you keep going on until you start to believe that you'll never wake up from it. I had to become the worst parts of myself in order to survive and I wonder if that person in the factory was always me from the beginning..."

"That person's never you, only what the cracks in your heart want you to believe," Aqua said.

"Besides, you're here now, whatever happened on Earth won't hurt you here," Terra said.

Suddenly, an onslaught of arrows came flying out of the sky that Aqua quickly shielded them away from with 'Protect'. She lowered her keyblade, then rose to her feet, sensing danger on the horizon. "What was that?" She asked.

As if to answer her, several Nobodies crawled out of the sand and surrounded the five of them, prompting Naminé to give Kairi a little extra push. "Come on Kairi, don't beat yourself up when you got those guys to beat up first!"

"Yeah...yeah you're right! I'm fighting too!" But the moment Kairi worked up the nerve to whip her keyblade out, the Wayfinder trio already made quick work of the Nobodies. ' _They're too overpowered for their own good.'_

"Weren't those Nobodies? What're they doing without an Organization to command them..." Terra looked over to Naminé. "Hey, you used to be a Nobody, right? What do you-"

"Terra, would you be a little sensitive!" Aqua said sharply.

"Oh no it's okay, I know quite a bit about the Organization since they held me hostage against my will and everything..." Naminé clasped her hands together. "Anyways, even if the Organization as we know it still existed, none of the members had any lesser Nobodies that looked anything like them. So my guess is that someone lost their heart, became a Nobody, and is now controlling lesser Nobodies."

"So who would that somebody be then..." Kairi said. "Wait a second, is it possible that tattoo guy might've become a Nobody after becoming a heartless. If he's back then that explains why those Nobodies were here...but that also means we're in big trouble."

"Oh my gosh, that's also a plotline from this story I'm making based on your adventures on Earth!" Naminé said. "And it ends with him and his evil twin brother taking over the worlds with their giant robot army!"

"Aw, that's so cool you're making a story about our adventures on Earth!"

"It's just a bunch of pictures strung together with dialogue, I was gonna surprise you with it when I was done, but I couldn't help myself!"

"Well if this is our future, then we have to react accordingly to make sure that doesn't happen."

"What, you're just gonna take that at face value," Terra said.

"Naminé's been right about literally everything that happened on Earth, so I wouldn't take it lightly."

"That's awesome, do you have witch powers or something!" Ventus said.

"Ven why would you even..." Aqua shook her head and sighed.

"It's fine, I get that a lot."

"So how does the story end?" Terra asked.

"In the destruction of reality as we know it and everyone dies, but don't worry that's just one of like 26 endings."

"Uh..."

*ring-ring

"That's mine..." Kairi took out her gummiphone. "It's you Riku, you called at just the right time, I got something to tell you."

"I do too, and you're not gonna like this one. You remember Eve, right? Well, I found his body in the Realm of Darkness."

Riku lifted Eve's body over his shoulders with one hand while holding his brand new gummiphone in the other. "I'm gonna take him to Radiant Garden and see what Ansem the Wise and his apprentices can do."

"...Why not just you know, 'get rid of him' while he's still incapacitated," Kairi said.

"It's possible he'll just come back again in his original form, like with what happened to Xehanort. I'm hoping Ansem the Wise might have some ideas on how we can make sure he never comes back again. So what's going on your side?"

"Some Lesser Nobodies attacked Destiny Islands."

"That's not good. I doubt it's Eve since he's incapacitated right now."

"Yeah, Naminé says Eve has a twin brother so...I think that might actually be the one controlling the Nobodies."

"Naminé hasn't been wrong about these things, I'll look into it. Sora might know, I'll give him a call later."

"Okay, I'll make sure nothing else strange happens here...and Riku, I really hope you come back home some time. We miss you."

"I know and I'm sorry I haven't been there to support you. I promise I'll come back before the sun sets, and if I don't, yell at me later, alright?"

She smiled. "I'll hold you to it."

**RADIANT GARDEN**

Ansem the Wise paced around the laboratory, stroking his beard in contemplation. "This is quite the delicate situation we have on our hands. Place the specimen on the examination table and my apprentices and I will get right to work."

"If he's as dangerous an individual as you say, then time is not on our side," Ienzo said. "Still, it's fascinating we get to study someone from a world far outside our realm of existence. What do you think, Even?"

"I think we need more data on him and the world he came from so we know exactly what we're dealing with. An opportunity like this doesn't come often."

Riku crossed his arms. "Look, I just need to figure out how to kill this guy without him turning back into his original form. He's a Nobody right now and I figured you guys would know a thing or two about that."

"He'll be in a zombified state for a few days until his memories start seeping inside him and then he'll be truly dangerous. Worst case scenario, we'll have to keep him in confinement for an indefinite amount of time," Even said.

"So there's no way out of this..."

"Riku, you won't like this, but it might be best for him to become his Somebody again. Then at least he'll return back to where he came from," Ienzo said.

"I don't want to burden Sora again, and...I'm hoping we can use him to find Earth."

"That will require far more data to pursue an endeavor like that. Riku, get as much information regarding Eve and we'll attempt to nullify the process of him returning to form," Ansem the Wise said.

"Got it. Sure you'll be okay alone with Eve?"

"He won't cause us much trouble in his current state, but we'll contact you if any problem arises." Even said.

"And I'm sure you wouldn't want to watch us doing 'boring' lab work all day," Ienzo said. "You were always the wandering type."

Riku nodded. "Right...just make sure you call me if anything bad happens." After Aeleus and Dilan escorted him out of the castle, he went to call Sora's number only to realize he'd already left him a voicemail. _'He called me already? It must've been when I was in the Realm of Darkness, I better listen to the message first.'_

_[Hey, it's me...I'm sure you're busy so I'll make this quick. I...I don't think I'm doing this hero thing right anymore. I thought I saved my friend's life, but then she just ended up going crazy. I thought I defeated Adam, now I think he's back again as a Nobody, Eve too probably.]_

_[You know, it feels like no matter what I do, it only ends up hurting people...I mean there has to be an easy fix to this, right? Maybe I'm not using the correct spell or maybe it's me...maybe I'm the problem. No, no nevermind that can't be it, ha-ha, sorry, I was getting way too depressing back there, just call me back when you can! Aaand done. Finally, I figured out how to work this thing and I didn't accidentally delete the message this time! Oh wait, still didn't send it, whoops-]_

**End Message**

"Sora..."

Just as Riku was about to call Sora back, he was confronted by Nobodies he'd never seen before. ' _Are these the Nobodies Kairi was talking about?'_  His keyblade formed in his hand. "Let's see how hard you guys fight back!"

Out of nowhere, two giant shurikens came spiraling directly at the Nobodies, but they merely sidestepped the shuriken's line of trajectory. However, before the shurikens got too far away, one of them transformed into Yuffie and she grabbed the other shuriken, throwing it right back at them and landing a hit this time on one of the Nobodies.

"I'd stand back if I were you!" Yuffie said to Riku.

Seconds later, the shuriken exploded, its blast radius taking out all of the Nobodies surrounding Riku.

Yuffie spun around with her hands on her hips and a playful grin on her face. "I can't believe it actually worked this time, I've been practicing that for— I mean, all in a day's work for the Great Ninja Yuffie, the single white rose of Radiant Garden!" She pointed her finger at him. "And you're one of Sora's friends, let me guess, the emo one?"

"I'm not...whatever. Yes, I'm one of Sora's friends, Riku. So how long have those Nobodies been around here?"

"Long enough to scare all the tourists away, that's for sure, but then everyone stopped leaving their homes so now it's a total ghost town here." Out of frustration, she stomped her foot on the ground. "Uuugh, if Cid did a better job with the town's defense systems, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Um...sorry to hear that?"

"You're telling me- I know, everyone back at the Reconstruction Committee would love to meet a friend of Sora's, maybe you can help us with our Nobody problem!"

"Well, I kind of have to-"

"Great, let's go!" Yuffie dragged Riku all the way to Merlin's House and when they went inside, he was greeted by the rest of the members of the committee.

"Hey, look at who I found guys!"

Cid simply grunted in response, continuing to loudly tap away on his computer.

"Ugh, Cid, you could at least say hi! He is one of the guys that helped save the world!"

"Shut yer yapping, I'm doing work!"

That left Aerith and Squall who were far more welcoming to Riku.

"Why hello, you're Riku, aren't you? I'm Aerith, it's so nice to meet you!"

"Name's Squall," He walked up to Riku, then offered his hand. "Good to finally have a face with the name."

"Oh so now you wanna go by Squall? Just when I was getting used to Leon," Yuffie said.

"I've gone over this before with...whatever. We restored Radiant Garden, now there's nothing for me to run away from anymore." It was supposed to be a hopeful sentiment, but a sigh escaped his lips instead. "Who am I kidding? With the way things are going now with these Nobodies, there might not be a Radiant Garden left to restore."

"Squall you can dial back the brooding for once, Riku said he'll help us with the Nobodies," Yuffie said.

"Is that so? The King already caught us up to speed on Sora's current situation and we believe the Nobodies and this 'Earth' world are linked somehow. Since you've already been there, you should be able to help us in that regard."

"I have been curious about Earth," Aerith said. "The whole futuristic, androids and robots stuff sounds pretty exciting to me."

Riku chuckled. "Earth is its own hell. I'm not sure how Sora manages to..." He trailed off. "Nevermind, I was just about to call him, he'd know more than I would."

Cid swiveled around in his chair. "Well goddamn boy, why the 5#%& didn't you say that from the beginnin', gimme that," Swiping the gummi phone away from his hands, he hooked it up to the computer, then called Sora who immediately picked up.

"Hello, who is- WHOA, Cid is that you?! And Leon, Yuffie, Aerith ... AND RIKU?! This is such an awesome surprise, I totally wasn't expecting you guys!"

"Sora!" Everyone huddled around the monitor, much to Cid's disdain.

"I'm glad you're still in one piece," Riku said.

"And it looks like you're eating well too," Aerith said.

"Oh yeah, I'm pretty surprised too," He motioned to the boar meat steak on his plate. "One of the androids made it for me!"

"You gotta tell us Sora, are there really aliens in that world, we kind of only got a cliff note version of everything," Yuffie said, shoving Cid out of the way.

"What the- get the hell off me, Yuffie!"

"Kind of, but they're all dead now so I dunno about that," Sora said.

"—Sora, who are you talking to?" A voice called out from the background.

"Uhhh...no one important!"

"Let me see who 'no one important' is then!" Popola got in front of the camera, despite Sora's protests so Riku had to quickly hide before she got the chance to see him. "Wow, who's that old looking guy?"

"Goddamnit! I'm not old!"

"I think a supercomputer knows what she's talking about," Yuffie said.

"So you guys think androids are like-"

"Popola, can you not do that!" Sora moved her out of the way, then relocated. "Sorry, so how are things back at Radiant Garden?"

"Not good, a strange type of Nobody has infested the town and we were hoping you'd know something about it," Squall said.

"Funny that you mention that. Some Nobodies actually attacked me and A2 earlier in the Desert, I think they might be Adam's Nobodies, which means he could probably be one too."

"Who's...Adam?" Riku asked.

"Adam is Eve's twin brother, he also turned into a heartless awhile back, but we defeated him. Then after that, we haven't seen him since."

 _'So Naminé was right about that too, we really need to start collaborating with her.'_ "... I just found Eve, so it's likely Adam's somewhere in the darkness too."

"WAIT! You found Eve?! That's not good!"

"Don't work yourself up, Ansem and his apprentices have him restrained in their lab and he's basically a zombie. He can't hurt anyone right now so that's not who we need to worry about, it's Adam...he's out there somewhere, controlling all those Nobodies as we speak."

"Then we use Eve to lure out Adam and we destroy both of them, aaaand there we have it, problem solved," Yuffie said.

"No, we'll lose Radiant Garden in the destruction and I can't let that happen, not again," Squall said. "...Not as long as my name is Squall."

"So we'll find Adam ourselves, we already have his brother," Aerith said.

"Then we need to know what we're up against," Squall slammed his hands on Cid's desk, which annoyed Cid even further. "Sora, tell us everything you know about Adam. He's most likely in one of our worlds and we need a gauge on his abilities."

"Um..." There was a delay in his response. "Y- Yeah, no problem, well...he was a machine obsessed with humans and when we fought him, his weapon kept changing, then he said some other stuff I don't really remember."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Very descriptive Sora."

"Well sorry I don't remember every detail that happened, it's been a long time! Hey- I have an idea, androids always have a backup of their memory somewhere. I'll ask A2 if she has something... as soon as I figure out how to flip the camera again."

"Sora, you sure it's a good idea to get the androids involved, we still need to keep world order and everything," Riku said.

"What're you talking about? It's not like anyone can leave this world...even if they wanted to." The camera abruptly flipped away from his face to display the Resistance Camp. "Finally got it, ahhh why is this thing so complicated!"

Sora walked to the entrance where A2 and Devola were leaning on the side of a rusted over pick-up truck having a conversation with each other. A conversation that ended when they saw Sora.

"Hey, what're you two lovebirds talking about~" Sora teased.

"Ways to kill you," A2 said. "And get that stupid thing out of my face or I'll break it!"

Devola elbowed A2 in the stomach. "No she won't because she already owes me for the first time she broke it. Besides, I like that you're using something that I made for you, I kind of took you as tech-illiterate, no offense."

"None taken. So A2, weird question, but can you transfer all your memory from your fight with Adam to my gummiphone for...research purposes."

"No."

"Wha- no?!"

"Look, I'm in the middle of handling business right now. Go bother Anemone, she has files on practically every enemy on this planet."

"Good idea, have fun 'handling business'~"

"If you don't get out of my face, I'll 'handle' your-"

But he didn't hear the latest of A2's death threats as he was already well on his way to Anemone's desk. Though she was busy as always, she pushed aside her work for Sora. "Hello Sora, what can I do for you?"

"Hey, do you have any files on Adam, I need them for research purposes."

"Sounds like some interesting research, well Adam's no longer an imminent threat, so all data pertaining to him should be accessible from the Resistance Camp's general database. Knock yourself out, kid."

"Umm..." He rubbed the back of his head. "I don't know how to computer...at all, so maybe you could help me out in that department."

"Right-right, you're a human. That fact escapes me sometimes, you know, you're so unlike what we thought of humans previously. If they were more like you, then we wouldn't have a need for androids... Anyways, I'll send that data over to your device right away."

"Thanks, I appreciate it!" He sat on Anemone's desk, then flipped the camera back over. "Okay, once I get the data, I'll send it over to you guys!"

"Thank you Sora," Squall said.

Cid stroked his stubbly beard. "Sora, now explain to me why you've been hangin' out with hot, half-naked robot women this whole goddamn time and didn't say nun about it?!"

"Cid, will you stop being a creep for once!" Yuffie yelled.

"I'm just sayin' what we're all thinkin'."

"No one was thinking that!"

Sora shrugged. "Never really noticed with my life being on the line most of the time- hold on, I got the data sent to me, now I just gotta figure out how to send this."

"—I can help you out! ...Not that I was eavesdropping on your conversation for the past 15 minutes," Popola said.

"Popola! Dang it, well, it was nice talking to you guys, but I should probably go, the androids are onto me..."

"I'm still here, Sora."

"Wait a second," Riku said. "Listen, don't give up on yourself or you'll give up on the world. So just hang in there and I promise we'll get you back this time."

—

In the quiet solitude of an abandoned building, 2E worked tirelessly to rebuild her pod from what spare parts she had in her database. She couldn't tell if her concern was out of genuine emotion or recognition that her pod served a vital combative function, but the reason didn't matter to her as long as she could hear her pod's robotic voice once more.

"...This is the last component you need." She fastened in a long chip, then waited to hear its voice.

"..."

Pod 042: *beep* *beep*

Her robotic companion finally powered on and suspended itself in the air.

Pod 042: 379956688212967411510857090913230918533671848360164038731

"I knew your voice module still needed work, hold on, this won't take long." She made a few more modifications.

Pod 042: ...Hello, I am a tactical support unit model 042, I will provide firing support for this YoRHa unit in any presented situation. What is your designation YoRHa unit so that I may better be of service to you?

"Oh...my name is 2E."

Pod 042: What are unit 2E's intentions so that I may provide optimal support?

"I should find the human..."

Pod 042: Error: no files exist for 'human'.

"Your memories are gone, aren't they? Sorry I wasn't able to salvage them, I guess that's something you and I have in common, but...you probably don't feel this emptiness inside you. If we're objects made to serve a purpose, then why do I have these emotions?"

Pod 042: I do not understand

"No, forget it...Pod, if you can't help me find the human, then find the nearest group of machines."

Pod 042: Searching...several enemy large structural units with machine-related origins detected in accessible locations.

"Enemy large structural units? Are those machines?"

Pod 042: High concentrations of machines are present in these large structural units.

"Then they must be eliminated, mark all locations on map.

Pod 042: Affirmative.

"...The closest one is in the Flooded City." The water sunken city was a short distance from her previous location and before long, she saw the so-called structural unit; a machine-made fortress, shrouded by a veil of fog. "This is it."

As 2E made her way to the Resource Recovery Unit, another android watched her.

"There she is...2B."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death Of Serenity**

****


	28. V[O]ice of no Return

**THE WORLD THAT NEVER WAS**

**Day 2**

_"I've often wondered to myself, is any of this real or not?"_

_"My mind often slips between existence and nonexistence as if I'm in this never-ending cycle of life and death."_

_"I feel nothing and am nothing, so why am I here? Am I human or...something in between? All I have are traces of memories that drive me forward."_

**Day 7**

_"These mysterious white creatures have taken a liking to me, I personally call them my 'Knights', for they do all my bidding. They have a peculiar ability that allows them to travel from one location to another. I wonder if I could acquire such an ability?"_

**Day 13**

_"I'm aware of my brother Eve and this seething hatred for a boy named Sora and all those associated with him. Those memories, in particular, are what I'm most curious about. I still don't understand why I'm here, is Sora the reason why? Perhaps my brother will join me in this darkness and then everything will become clear."_

Since Adam found himself in The World That Never Was, he'd taken refuge in the massive floating castle above the city. Declaring it as his own base of operations, despite him being the sole operator. On occasion he would wander around the empty white halls of the castle, wondering its purpose of existence as he searched for his own.

Over time, the memories that were the core parts of his being absorbed all of his thoughts and actions and soon he was in the streets of the Dark City in search of heartless he could perform experiments on. It was the natural research side of him and a case of boredom that tore him away from the castle, because no matter where he was in the world, there was nothing but isolation waiting for him.

However, his world changed completely when he felt Eve's presence. He promptly ordered his Knight Nobodies on a full-scale search of his brother until one of his nobodies manifested in front of him.

_My liege, we've yet to find the individual for whom you call 'Eve'._

_We believe he does not exist in this world._

"What do you mean by he doesn't exist in this world?"

_There are many worlds outside this one alone and Eve could be in any one of them._

"Fascinating...how am I able to access these so-called 'many worlds'?"

_The same way we do. The darkness will take you wherever you need to go once you channel its power within you. The connection you share with your brother lies in your ties to darkness._

"Then I'll leave at once. So will you, I presume?"

_Wherever you go my liege, we're always with you._

* * *

"So what do you think of humans now since you've met one?"

The Resistance android thought for a moment, for one, she never expected to live long enough to ever see a human in the flesh. Let alone as one as peculiar as Sora, who'd randomly come to listen to the old jukebox music with her while he waited for his friend. So her answer was as pretty direct as one could get, "Don't take this the wrong way, but basically meat bags with feelings attached to it."

"I'm not sure what other way I can take that!" Sora let out a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head—a useless action, the android thought, but it was one of the many reasons that made him so fascinating to watch.

"Well, I'll admit that was a pretty 'android' thing for me to say. I guess if I'm being honest... it all feels so real coming from you. I mean, when I see your face and hear you speak, I'm reminded of my place as an android."

"Huh, I didn't know I had that effect on you guys."

"It's not a bad thing, it's-"

"—Hey, kid!" A2 came up from behind Sora with her pointed her sword at him, which initially gave him all the wrong ideas. "Ready to go on the hunt for machines, I just upgraded all my weapons and I had enough to get you some field rations." She threw Sora a dented can of beans.

"A2...how old is this?"

"Hell if I know. Come on, I'll catch you something along the way if you start puking."

"Okay, I'm right behind you," He waved goodbye to the Resistance android then caught up to A2. "Am I going crazy or are you actually in a good mood for once?"

"Yeah right, I just think it's a good day for violently murdering machines."

Sora nodded slowly. "I'll leave the 'violently murdering' part to you, but I guess it'll be a nice change of pace from all the crazy stuff that's been happening recent...oh- I almost forgot! I'm gonna check on 9S to make sure he's okay before we head out!" He made his way over to the infirmary only to find another android occupying 9S's bed. "Huh...where did 9S go?"

"Devola mentioned he went looking for 2E," A2 said. "Who knows, maybe he'll get stabbed so I never have to see his annoying face again."

"That's not good. We've had our differences, but it's not like I want him to get stabbed or anything."

"Oh well, can't save them all," A2 said with such obvious disregard Sora didn't pick up on.

"No, I'm sorry if I can't go machine hunting with you right now, but I think I can save 9S if I hurry!"

"What? Do you even know where the hell to find him, or is this idiot Sora speaking?"

"I was just gonna follow my heart like I always do whenever I'm in these situations. There's this saying that goes, 'may your heart be your guiding key'!"

"So this is idiot Sora speaking...alright, fine, guess I'll hunt machines later. I'm coming with you, I'd say I'm efficient at tracking down androids without a pod."

"Really?! Er- I mean, you don't have to come if you don't want to."

"I'm screwed if some heartless show up so I'm pretty much stuck with you. Let's just find that shit stain already."

—

Time: 14:13

Location Confirmed: Flooded City

Coordinates: 32.7503° N, 129.8779° E

**Begin Recording**

_9S...the time I was able to spend with you...It was like memories of pure light. Thank you...Nine...s..._

Echoes of 2E's footsteps followed her inside the technological fortress that was the Soul Box. Bulky machinery reinforced the walls, emitting dim yellow light. "It doesn't look like there are any machines here, but just to be safe, Pod, scan the area." Although 2E couldn't see anything, there was an undeniable presence of  _other_  lurking within the shadows.

Pod 042: Searching...no machines detected.

"Then is this structure itself a machine?"

Pod 042: Unknown, but current surroundings and prior knowledge of its machine-related origins seems to suggest it as a possibility.

"I see... well every machine has a core so how do I go forward?" She noticed a locked chest at the center of the platform, but when she walked over to it, an alarm went off.

?-?-?: Hello and welcome to the Resource Recovery Unit. Error: Foreign entity has entered the facility that has not yet been registered into the database. Please wait while we log your data into the system.

?-?-?: Loading... upload successfully. We look forward to serving you again!

All of a sudden, the once locked chest opened itself up and she received a variety of plug-in chips. "That chest must've been part of a mechanism..." She scanned the area, her eyes soon locking onto another elevator straight ahead.

 _'The system protection has to be broken in order to move forward. If it's letting me through like this, it must be for a reason.'_  But before she could take another step a second alarm went off.

?-?-?: We apologize, but there is a request for your immediate termination. Initiating execution mode. Have a good day!

Multiple ports around the walls opened up and the room began filling up with pureblood heartless. Knowing her limitations, she made a mad dash for the elevator to escape the darkness.

"Those were heartless, right? Pod, are you sure there's no way to combat them?"

Pod 042: Unknown, insufficient data regarding the 'Heartless'.

"Damn it, are they in response to my presence?"

The next level was a similar layout to the first and she quickly located the open chest on the hollowed-out platform since the heartless were slowly climbing up the walls. This time the chest rewarded her with recovery units, which 2E could only assume was in preparation for an enemy machine or whatever entity the facility had in store for her.

' _I suppose an enemy machine at the end of this would be a fitting conclusion, but why go through all this trouble? The machines have never made it easy for androids.'_ Rather than dwell on it, she stowed her thoughts away, then ran to the elevator.

It was the third level that massively shifted its floor plan, this time the platforms were elevated into the air and the chests weren't hiding in plain sight.

Pod 042: Analysis: The two blocking devices on this floor have already been unlocked, proceed to the elevator.

"You don't say." 2E had no intention of collecting any of the treasure rewards if it meant having to face the heartless, but when she went to the elevator door, it was sealed shut. She tried banging on it, but even that wouldn't make it budge. "Son of a- I have to empty out the chests first, don't I? Pod, why did you give me ill-advised directions?"

Pod 042: Insufficient data, updating processor to correct misinformation.

Sighing under her breath, 2E returned to the elevated platforms. Enough time had elapsed for the heartless to catch up so she had to fight her way through until she destroyed their physical forms and had a small window of time to empty out both of the chests of its contents.

Instead of another plug-in chip or recovery unit, she was surprised to receive an archive file officially titled 'Tower System Outline'. She ran it through her mental processor that got all the information she needed out of it in less than a second, then rushed back to the elevator, just barely able to make it out of there unscathed.

"These archive files...Pod, why was I not made aware of this giant 'tower' structure? Especially since this tower is supposedly a canon aimed somewhere in space."

Pod 042: Insufficient data, cannot confirm or deny. Nor was this pod aware of its existence as all attention has been dedicated to Unit 2E.

"The loss of your memories have taken a significant toll on your performance. I'll have to look into it after I figure out what this place is." ' _Still, this all feels so counterintuitive for the machines to allocate this many resources when YoRHa's practically been wiped out. What more can they take out of this war, if you can even still call it that.'_  But there was no time for her to waste it on her thoughts as the elevator doors opened to a new level.

Pod 042: Analysis: The three blocking devices on this floor have-

Pod 042: Override command. Warning: Multiple enemies detected

"You don't say." The raised platforms were black from all the heartless infesting the area, but the face of darkness didn't deter her. She went ahead with the same, 'kill 'em before they respawn' strategy from the last levels. While it worked for the first two chests, the last chest was swamped with so many heartless that in the process of her trying to reach it, the heartless pulled her through.

For a moment, the darkness surrounded her, and the coldness came back. A feeling that she carried with her no matter how many memories she lost.

-Items Obtained-

Archive obtained:  
[Top Secret] Black Box

"..."

' _Apart of our black box is made from machines?'_

' _Then I suppose this is a fitting end.'_

In lieu of facing eternal oblivion, she felt someone grab her arm and yank her right out.

"...9S? Why are you here?"

"To save you, of course, 2B!"

' _2B.'_  "You wasted your time." Snatching her arm back, 2E went to the elevator, but 9S followed behind her anyway and the doors enclosed them in together.

"2B, you don't know how much I've missed you, I'm so glad I finally found you!" 9S said.

2E turned her head the other way. "You have no business calling me 2B."

The next set of doors opened to the final level where a bright yellow orb, the core, rested in a contraption. 2E stepped out first, brandishing her sword.

"2B...what're you doing? Why do you have your sword out?"

"Of all the things I've lost from my memory being wiped, I never forgot what my true purpose was. So you'll address me by my true designation." She went straight for 9S with an attempt on his life, so he jumped back, narrowly missing her sword swing.

"I don't want to fight you 2B!"

"You don't have a choice. Pod, continuous gatling fire."

On top of avoiding 2E's relentless attacks, 9S now had to avoid her pod's endless fire, so he put his own pod up to the task of defending him. "Pod, engage R070 M: Shield, level 3 charge." A protective barrier that absorbed the projectiles surrounded 9S as he ran away. ' _How do I get out of this without hurting her?!'_

"2B, listen to me!" 9S was quickly backing up against the entryway. "Apart of me always knew that you were meant to kill me, but that didn't-" Pausing mid-sentence, he then ducked and rolled under another sword swing that landed him on the opposite side of 2E.

2E turned back around to face 9S. "Pod, R050: Spear, charge level 3." The number of spears charged to level 3 was enough to cover the entire platform, forcing 9S to hang off the edge if he wanted to escape impalation.

' _This is a really bad situation, but nothing I can't turn around.'_  9S waited until the spears dispersed to use his pod to lift him up and propel himself at 2E. The impact forced 2E to fall over on the ground where 9S held her down. "I'm sorry I have to do this, 2B." While he still had her semi-restrained, he hacked into 2E to hopefully be able to get through to her from the inside.

[HACKING SYSTEM] - BOOTING SYSTEM

9S: These are her memory archives...

[ACCESS DENIED]

9S: Ah, she has a ton of barriers barring entry, well, that's 2B for you. She's never easy, but that makes her worth it. Time to break these guys down!

BEGIN HACKING

Player: Unit 9S start

[Unit 9S approaches_ Enemy: Barrier modules]

Turn 1

_Unit 9S: 100 HP_

_Barrier modules: 500 HP_

➝Unit 9S attacks Barrier modules for 20 attack damage!

➝Barrier modules attack Unit 9S, but misses

_Unit 9S: 100 HP_

_Barrier modules: 480 HP_

**Input from Administrator:**  "Get the hell out of my head 9S!"

Turn 2

➝Barrier modules beef up its offensive component and attacks Unit 9S for 30 attack damage!

➝Unit 9S tries to attack, but his attacks are blocked by the sudden appearance of defensive units

Unit 9S: "...damn it! Stop pushing me away 2B."

_Unit 9S: 70 HP_

_Barrier modules: 480 HP_

**Input from Administrator** : "What makes you think I want that?! You don't even know me, you just know the idea of me, and I don't want you in my life!"

Turn 3

➝Barrier modules powers up into 'Barrier module Limit Form' and its HP increases by 120!

Unit 9S: "Oh come on! That's it!"

➝Unit 9S brazenly attacks Barrier module Limit Form, but he is only able to chip away at its barrier until he's shot down by the defensive turrets for 60 attack damage and is forced to retreat!

Unit 9S: "...this is not good."

➝Barrier module Limit Form retaliates by unleashing a powerful blast, but misses

Unit 9S: "...2B, I care about you so much and I need you. I can't  _not_  have you in my life."

_Unit 9S: 10 HP_

_Barrier module Limit Form: 600 HP_

**Input from Administrator:**  "Why do you care so much about an android who's supposed to kill you?!"

Turn 4

Unit 9S: "Because I..I...2B, I've always known of your true designation, but I also knew how much it hurt you. You were so distant and cold from the pain of killing me over and over again, but despite everything, you always ended up getting attached to me in your own way."

➝Barrier module Limit Form powers up its blaster

Unit 9S: "So, if you want to push me away again, fine, but I'll find my way back to you because you're the one I can't live without."

 **Input from Administrator:**  "I'll never be the person you want me to be...I can't be your 2B. It's different now."

Unit 9S: "...I know...we won't ever share those memories that I have with you, but...that's okay too. I want to create new memories that we can share together!"

➝Barrier module Limit Form receives 200 attack damage

_Unit 9S: 10 HP_

_Barrier module Limit Form: 400 HP_

Turn 5

**Input from Administrator:**  "I know that's not what you really want 9S, but...I don't know what I want either. I keep fighting for something that's gone...it's hard to find a reason to keep moving forward."

Unit 9S: "I wondered that too myself, when I found out the humans were gone, I didn't know what the point of my existence was. I was lost. Then when I saw you ... I found myself again. You're the reason I keep fighting 2B and... why I keep dying... it's funny. I hate that it has to be you for why I'm fighting, but I also wouldn't want it any other way.

➝Barrier module Limit Form receives 200 attack damage

_Unit 9S: 10 HP_

_Barrier module Limit Form: 200 HP_

Turn 6

Unit 9S: "I just wish I had a few more moments with you to ask what you really thought of me."

 **Input from Administrator:**  "You don't need to."

➝The Barrier module Limit Form receives 190 attack damage ...

➝ Suddenly the Barrier module Limit Form transforms into a data replica of 2B!

_Unit 9S: 10 HP_

_Unit 2B: 10 HP_

Turn 7

Unit 9S: "...It's you."

Unit 9S: "..."

Unit 9S: "Who was I to you, 2B?"

_["Stop complaining."]_

_["Roger that Nine...z."]_

_["All this help for no personal gain? I know she's pretty, but-"]_

_["9S... Come on. Let's go home."]_

_._

_._

_._

_["It always... ends like this..."]_

➝Unit 2B receives 10 attack damage

➝Unit 2B is defeated

LOADING . . .

HACKING COMPLETE

9S's consciousness was back in the Resource Recovery Unit, he got up from 2E, then stared at her. "It's...weird seeing you without your visor on, almost like you're a different person," He said. "I guess I should start getting used to calling you 2E...if that's what you want."

"That's unnecessary, you...can call me 2B." For so long she ran away from that name so she wouldn't have to be burdened by her past, but for the first time, when she said 2B, she felt light inside. 2B was meant to be her act, but now it was an identity she chose for herself and that meant everything to her even if she didn't want to admit it to 9S. "...We need to destroy that core as long as this is a machine facility."

"You're right, problem is getting out of here with all the heartless, maybe the core has something to do with them."

"We'll see about that."

However, once they got close enough to the core, multiple Knight Nobodies armed with broadswords emerged from the darkness to attack them. 9S attempted to get in front of 2B to protect her, but the Nobodies knocked his sword away and got a shallow cut across his chest before he jumped back.

Grimacing, 9S pressed his hand over his wound. "Don't worry, this is nothing. Not sure where those guys came from, but they don't look like heartless."

"It's always something new." Tired of falling victim to whatever enemy the world threw at them, 2B drew her sword. Fortunately, she was saved from having to combat the empty husks when she heard an all too familiar voice yell out from behind her.

"—Heads up!" Sora's keyblade spun around the Knight Nobodies, cutting down the terrifying creatures into the nothingness they were born from. After the Knight Nobodies were defeated, Sora waved his hand at 2B and 9S. "Hey guys, follow me out of here!"

"Sora! We'll be right behind you, hold on!" 9S looked back over to the core that now had heartless crawling all over it. "... you think we should destroy the core first?"

"We'll deal with that later, we have other things to worry about."

"You're right. Sora, you lead the way!"

Sora carved out a path amongst the heartless with his keyblade, but in the middle of their descent, an outgrowth of heartless latched onto 2B and tried to drag her back into the darkness. "2B!" 9S rushed over and held onto her arms. "Don't worry, I won't lose you!"

With his keyblade in hand, Sora came up from behind and slashed the heartless clawing at 2B. She had sustained serious tears to her artificial skin layer from struggling to break free from the heartless's hold, but there wasn't a second longer for them to rest so they kept moving until they were all safely outside of the Soul Box.

"Everyone alright?" Sora asked.

"Not exactly..." Blood was seeping out of torn skin and dripping down 2B's legs. There wasn't much her recovery units could do outside of internal stabilization, so she could only use her hands to compress the wound.

"Oh no...2B...I'll boot up my pod's repair program, just hold on until we get to the camp," 9S said, holding onto her.

Sora joined 9S in supporting 2B. "I'll try using curaga to see if it'll help."

With A2 taking care of the machines, it didn't take long for the two boys to bring 2B to the Resistance camp where Devola and Popola went straight to work on her. While the procedure went underway, 9S was pacing back and forth outside the infirmary, checking on 2B every couple of minutes until Devola yelled at him to leave her alone, so he decided to wait around with A2 and Sora instead.

"This was a lot less stressful when we could just upload our consciousness to another body on the Bunker," 9S said.

"Get used to it," A2 muttered.

"I'm sure she'll be okay, Dev and Pop are awesome at their jobs, just look at A2!" Sora said.

"I guess you're right, those models are built for that type of stuff. Still, we keep getting more and more close calls with those heartless by the day. I'm not sure what we'd do without you since you're the only human we have."

Until now, A2 had kept to herself, not interested in talking to 9S, who she held in contempt, but his comment had raised her curiosity. "What are you talking about? Sora's not the only human, there's still a moon base full of those bastards...or wherever they are."

"Oh...you don't know?"

"Know  _what_?" She was starting to get pissed off.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there are no humans, they all went extinct thousands of years ago. Their existence was just a lie to perpetuate this war basically."

"Don't know what E-drugs you're on, we've identified like three humans at this point."

"Wow...he didn't even tell you that part huh, and I thought you were his favorite."

Now she was full-on, grabbing 9S by the collar, pissed off at him. "What the hell are you talking about, Scanner?!"

"Uh, why don't we talk about something else," Sora tried to cut in.

"Quiet, he's pissing me off with this!" She shook 9S back and forth. "What're you waiting for?! Go ahead and tell me or you'll be in that infirmary next!"

"Okay-okay, Sora's not even from Earth, or the Moon, or anywhere that we know! He's, for lack of a better term, an alien to us."

"..."

A2 dropped him back on the ground. "Tch- like I'd belive some scanner android, especially you." She looked back to Sora for confirmation, but his face told what he wouldn't say with words and her smug confidence quickly dissolved into crippling doubt. "Wait, Sora? What he said...that can't be true, can it?"

Sora kept his head lowered, unable to face A2.

"So...you lied to me?"

"...I didn't want to hurt you, A2."

Her hands curled up into a fist. "That's bullshit, why didn't you ever tell me?!"

"I...I couldn't, that's why. If I told the truth, it would've put me and my friends in danger, maybe even the world, and I didn't want to risk that."

"This whole time you didn't even trust me either..."

"I trust you with my  _life_  A2, but this is the one thing I just couldn't tell you. I didn't think I'd be here so long that it would matter, and...I didn't want you to lose hope for this world either."

"Of course it matters, I kept fighting for you because I thought you belonged here! You were the one good thing about this shitty place and even you turned out to be a lie just like everything else!"

"A2, I'm not a lie, I'll keep fighting for you whether I belong here or not because I see a world worth saving!"

" _You_  see a world worth saving? Of course...you stupid humans fuck everything over and still wanna be the hero, huh? You don't even get it..." Out of anger, A2 snatched Sora up by the collar then pinned him against the concrete walls of the camp. At that point, she got the attention of the Resistance camp androids who slowly accumulated around her to figure out what was going on, so 9S tried to intervene before things could get out of control.

"A2, you need to calm down. It's okay to be upset, but don't take it out on him! He's a human, we should be protecting him no matter what," 9S said.

"Who's gonna protect  _us_ when he's gone forever?!"

That got Sora angry enough to force A2 off, then the two of them began wrestling with each other to see who was going down first.

"—An android would never put their hands on a human, she probably has the logic virus! Someone get that crazy android away from the human!" A Resistance android yelled.

One of the Resistance androids ran up to A2 so she punched her in the face. "Back off! You assholes only see value in him because he's a human!"

"—Those are bold claims for someone who doesn't even see value in themselves," The crowd parted for Anemone to walk through and face A2. "Stand down A2, I won't allow this mess in my camp. There's something obviously messed up in your circuitry for you to displace your anger like this."

"The only thing messed up here is Sora, he's leaving  _us_  here to suffer!"

"A2! You know me! I won't leave until all the heartless are gone and I'll keep you guys safe no matter what! I would never leave not knowing if you'd be okay or not...and even when I am gone, I'll always be in your heart!" Sora cried out.

"That's not enough. I don't want data...I want you to be real, Sora." Then for the first time, she felt her face getting hot from all the artificial blood rushing to her face and she couldn't understand why. She couldn't process whatever emotion she was feeling so she got frustrated instead. "No, why did I say that? I should...hate you...I want to, but... I can't...I wasn't programmed to..."

All the anger cultivating inside her exploded in a fiery outburst and she slammed her fist through the concrete wall. "Just...go... home... Sora..." She said between heavy pants before collecting herself. "That's what you want, isn't it? This world is beyond saving, you'll just end up dying along with the rest of us."

"I can save it if I try, and I'm not leaving you A2! I'm here for you, always!"

"Then I'll leave. I can't do this anymore... you made me have hope again and that is the worst thing you can ever do to me."

A2 walked away from him.

"A2!"

Anemone crossed her arms. "Just let her go, Sora. She's unstable."

But Sora ran after her anyways and grabbed her arm.

"A2! Stop doing this! Why do you always push me away?! Why do you STILL put up this wall?! If we're friends, then let me be a friend to you! You don't have to give up hope and I won't ever hide anything, just please, please...don't leave me! You're the only one who's real to me!"

"...Real?"

_["She's the only one that I know it's real. All of it, the good, the bad, she's genuine about it ... and no matter what, I always feel happy when I'm around her."]_

"...These are just...programmed emotions. You're a human and I'm an android, none of this was ever real. I can't even hate you because it's all meaningless code." It was the first time she ever sounded truly robotic to Sora.

"No A2, stop, I- I can't do this without you!"

"Sora. Go home...do that for me."

"No A2, I- 3685348008097767!"

"A- [error] 000000."

_1 function initiateCommand() {_

_2 Command = Push "Human" away_

_3 Target = Human ("Sora", "Sora", "Sora", "Sora,")_

_4 "Push Human away" .start(); }_

_5 Command Successful_Input New Command To Start_

_6 function initiateCommand() {_

_7 Command = Leave "Resistance Camp" _don't look at his_Sora_face_

_8 Error_Source Code 10307= Looked back at Sora_Command failed_

_9 Override previous Command { ( Eliminate emotional input from limbic component ) }_

_10 Command successfully overrided_proceed to leave "Resistance Camp" initiating motor drive() {_

_11 Command Successful_Input New Command To Start_

_12 "Machine" enemy detected_

_13 function initiateCommand() {_

A2's sword ripped and shredded apart the group of machines with seething anger. Even when they were reduced to nothing but spare parts, she kept stabbing her sword at the chunks of metal until a soft-spoken machine voice reached out to her.

"Oh dear, I'm grateful to you for saving me, but...you don't seem okay. Can I assist you in any way?" It was Pascal of all machines. In her blind rage, A2 didn't even register his presence, but now that she was aware, she immediately switched initiatives and threw Pascal on the ground, holding her sword to his neck. "You're a machine too, I'll KILL YOU!"

"I can tell your soul is hurting and though I rather my life doesn't end right here, I won't stop you if it'll save your soul."

"You want to save my soul?! Find me a place far away from here where the machines aren't pathetic enough to not put up a fight or you'll have to be enough!"

"W-well..." With his life on the line, Pascal had to think fast. "I've heard rumors of so-called 'coliseums' filled with machines who are desperate to fight. If you wish, I can send you approximate coordinates of each of these locations."

She pressed her sword down further. "What're you waiting for?!"

When A2 received the coordinates, she threw Pascal to the side, then left everything she knew behind her.

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death Of Us**

**-End Recording-**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get out, it was in development hell for the longest, then school kicked my ass. Next chapter should be out quicker.


	29. Reverse/Re[B]irth

" _Where the state ceaseth, there only commenceth the man who is not superfluous_."

"Hmm. I see, it seems that Nietzsche was quite the profound thinker or...perhaps he skipped right past profound and went straight to crazy instead. Ah, well, enough of that." Pascal closed the philosophy book. "I'd best go see the world for my—"

"AAAAHHHH!"

"SOMEONE SAVE US! HEEEELP!"

' _That sounds terrible, I have to find out what's causing all this distress.'_  Stepping out of his humble dwellings, Pascal wasted no time in trying to find the root cause of all the panic. When he reached the lower levels, he couldn't believe what he was seeing, he couldn't even begin to describe it. Otherworldly white creatures, Knight Nobodies, were in the process of dragging  _his_  machines into black portals.

"Pascal! Please ... help us!"

"Help us Pascal!"

"Don't let them take me away! I don't wanna go!"

Pascal tried to do something, anything, but he lacked the strength the Knights had. When he attempted to fight back, one of the Knights used their broadsword to fasten him down on the ground so that he couldn't move and was forced to watch his precious machines get dragged away into the darkness. Then it was his turn to get taken away, fortunately by some miracle, he was able to break from their hold and he attempted to contact 2B.

"...Please pick up 2B..."

* * *

After Sora and A2's very public fight on the Resistance Campgrounds, the androids settled back into their daily routine. It was quiet. The type of quiet one might expect after experiencing a violent storm. Anemone was back to monitoring machine activity, 9S was back to worrying about 2B, Devola was back in the weapon and items shop while Popola took over 2B's recovery in the infirmary.

Even Sora moved onto helping Devola in the shop to get his mind off of A2. "Aaand there!" He set down three crates in front of Devola.

"Thanks kid. This is more than enough for this week's shipment."

"For the same price too, the supply guy in the back threw in an extra crate for me!"

"That so? Usually, that asshole's a cheapskate, must've been that adorable charm he can't say no to~" Devola began unloading the crates. "So you feeling any better? I'm surprised you haven't run after her already."

He rubbed the back of his head. "...It's not like she wants me around right now anyway so I was just gonna wait until something came up."

"Aw, don't say that. I'm not sure what goes on in her head, but I'm sure she's just upset and confused over everything." She sat back in her seat. "It's just like A2 to run away when shit starts getting real."

"Well, I don't know what else I can say to her if she can't even believe in me. I wanna prove it to her somehow..."

"That's a tough one, this world's been broken for a long time and dying was always an inevitability we had to face. Didn't think it was gonna be to eldritch monsters, but it fits the bill. Life's a bitch and then you die, right?"

"Uh...Devola? You alright?"

"No, I'm sober. Booze is so hard to come by nowadays, ugh, don't drink if you can't do it constantly Sora."

"Riiight, so is there anything else I can do?"

"If you're that bored you can get some more microchips in the back."

"You got it, microchips coming right up!"

While Sora kept himself busy, 2B finally awoke following a successful procedure, before she could even get acclimated to her surroundings, 9S squeezed her as tight as he could. "2B! I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried sick about you."

"You don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine. Thank you Popola."

"Oh, yeah, no problem. Anytime, 2B!"

"So what happened while I was out?"

Pod 042: Incoming call

Pod 042: "2- 2B, oh thank goodness you picked up, I need your help! Something terrible is happening to my village, please bring Sora too if you—Oh no! 3823#45 82937219

"What? Why is a machine contacting me?"

"It's a long story, I'll explain it on the way. Let's just get Sora," 9S said.

2B and 9S approached Sora as he was returning from the back with another crate.

"Sora!" 9S said.

Sora dropped the crate on the ground. "What's up?"

"There's a problem going on at Pascal's village and we need you, I think it might be the heartless."

"Alright, I'll be right behind you guys. Sorry Dev, but I gotta go!"

"Just come back in one piece for once, will ya?"

"I'll try!"

It had been a while since Sora, 2B, and 9S traveled together on a mission and so many things happened between the first time they met to now. The androids Sora once knew were now practically unrecognizable to him and he wasn't sure if they were the ones who changed or he was the one who changed to see who they really were.

Either way, he was uncharacteristically distant from them, solely focused on the mission at hand. While 2B didn't notice his standoffish behavior, 9S was analyzing him from every angle. ' _Sora still doesn't trust us, guess we androids haven't been leaving the best impression on him lately. I wish there was some way I could make it up to him.'_

_["Look 9S, why don't you just talk to me like normal for once," Sora finally said. "I think me and you can be really good friends, but not if you're asking me a billion questions at once."]_

_'Is that it? I'm still treating you the same way I did when we first met. Oh well, I can't think about that right now. Mission first.'_

Knight Nobodies were wreaking havoc in Pascal's village, they were forcing machines into dark portals, and killing any who weren't compliant. Weight of the World manifested in Sora's grasp. "You guys find Pascal, the Nobodies are mine!"

"So these machines have become our allies," 2B said, summoning her swords. "Never thought I'd fight for machines."

Despite their deadly first strike against the machines, the Knights were no match against Sora's keyblade. Unrelenting Reality, his second shotlock, created multiple copies of his keyblade that targeted and destroyed most of them. All that was left were the few outliers Sora could track down from the screams of the machines.

"AAAAAH! I'M SO SCARED, HELP ME!"

"Hold on tight, I'm coming!" Swooping down to the ground level, he bashed in the head of a Knight Nobody and carried the child machine in his arms.

"Th-Thank you mister human!"

"No problem!" He killed a few more Knight Nobodies and picked up a few more machine children on his way to finding Pascal and the others.  _'This is crazy, what does Adam want with all these machines?'_

Sora found Pascal and the rest of the machine children outside the village with 2B and 9S. "There you guys are, these were all the machines that were left. The Nobodies must've taken everyone else away, I'm sorry I couldn't help more."

"No...I'm thankful that you all came here in a time of need...and that we at least saved the children," His voice sounded like it was on the verge of breaking at any moment. "I don't know why this is happening, those creatures came out of nowhere ... and I was powerless to stop them."

"I miss my mommy, I don't want her to go away forever!" One of the machine children cried.

"What's gonna happen to us now?! We're gonna get taken away too!" Another wailed.

"Don't be scared, I'll make sure nothing ever happens to you guys, okay? Hey, I know what'll make you all feel better," Sora bent down and summoned his keyblade. "Betcha guys have never seen anything like this before!"

"Wow! That's sooo cool!"

"Those monsters have attacked us before too," 9S said. "It seems like these are coordinated attacks, if they're taking your village machines away, then it's likely they're taking other machines away as well."

"Adam's behind all of this, I know it," Sora said. "But knowing him, I don't think your machines are gone for good, he's probably just planning to do something sick with them. Don't worry Pascal, whenever we figure out how to get the machines back, your village will be as good as new!"

"Those are kind words and I thank you. It would mean everything to me if my village could return to the way it was, but right now, I want to focus on protecting these children from any further threat because they are the future. I'm going to take them to the abandoned factory, thank you again for everything."

"Are you sure you want to do that alone? Let me help you in case the Nobodies show up," Sora said.

"No, we'll be okay. Besides, your heart is already set on someone else and I don't want to take that away from you."

"What do you mean?"

"I have some information regarding A2 if you wish to hear it, Sora."

"...okay."

"A2's gone off to fight in the coliseums. I could tell there was something wrong with her and I do hope she's okay. A place like that will only hasten her descent into despair."

"I...I don't know. I want to find her, but I don't want to leave you guys alone, the Nobodies might come back and ..."

"We'll protect Pascal and the machine children. Go after her Sora," 9S said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" 2B asked. "We should be protecting the human as androids."

"This is something I want to do as a friend. Sora's strong, he doesn't need us to protect him."

"But you can't defeat the Nobodies! You're gonna need me to fight them," Sora said.

"Heh, we're pretty strong too, Sora. We can at least hold them off until you arrive, I just need a way to contact you."

"Oh- you can use my gummiphone to call me and I'll be there as soon as I can." Sora handed it to 9S so he could establish a connection.

"Perfect, then you don't have to worry about anything." He gave him his gummiphone back. "...I've been selfish to you Sora. This entire time, I could never see past my programming as an android, so I never let you think for yourself, but I want to change that starting now. I'll be honest, I don't like A2, but I know she's important to you and I'll have your back no matter what you decide to do."

"Thanks, Nines."

—

0101010000010101 "Of course I don't care about what happens to you A2. 10101101 What gave you that idea?" 01010101010001

A2 was unprepared.

Not that A2 didn't have enough weapons and support items to supply an army. No, she was unprepared for herself. Never did A2 think she could possibly top her own self-loathing, but there she was, feeling like a walking pile of boar shit.

Normally, alcohol would've been her best friend in this situation, but in her blind rage, A2 stormed into the Flooded City without stocking up on the copious amount of booze she desperately needed right now. So not only was she feeling shitty, but she had to be sober on top of it. Since she couldn't risk going back, she had to push forward with her poisonous thoughts to occupy her mind.

010101000011 "A2...you're scary and mean and curse a lot, 0101010100 why would I ever want to be around you?" 111111111100101010

' _Why can't you say nice things if you're gonna be stuck in my head all goddamn day?'_ A2 stood at the far reaches of the Flooded City where the road stopped and the vast ocean began. She scanned the area, but there were no signs of any supposed 'coliseum' in sight. "Damn it, where the hell is this place?!"

"Don't know what place you're talking about, but you're not gonna find it by screaming at nothing." A shady resistance android approached A2. "Oh, I know you, you're A2."

"How do you know me?"

"You're not as low-profile as you'd like to think, especially not when you hang around that human. Where is he anyway, would've loved to meet the guy."

"...He's not with me anymore."

"Aw, you two had a little breakup? That sucks, must be rough for you."

"Stop wasting my time! Do you know where the coliseum is at around here or not?"

The android thought for a moment. "There is, but only members with membership cards are allowed to go through. Although I could make an exception for some monetary compensation."

"How about you walk away with all your limbs attached, is that fair?"

"S-Sure is, right this way!"

A2 went inside an elevator hidden behind a skyscraper and it descended into a place she'd never seen before. . .

Resistance androids from all over the Earth were gathered in the lobby outside an arena, talking amongst themselves about the latest match and placing their bets on who was going to win. It was a different atmosphere than the war-torn frontlines A2 was used to, but that only made her more curious and she walked forward to the receptionist.

"So...uh, how do I fight machines?" A2 awkwardly asked.

"This must be your first time with us, finally, we haven't had that many newcomers since the whole heartless situation happened."

"Heartless situation?"

"Whoops, I wasn't supposed to mention that, but I'll go ahead and tell you anyway. Let's just keep this between you and me."

"Not a problem."

"So a while ago heartless began possessing our machines and soon they got a hold of androids too. It was pretty terrifying as you can imagine, but then one day an android with yellow eyes came here and he was able to command the heartless like they were nothing. Ever since then we haven't had any problems with them, in fact, we include them in the battles now to make it more exciting. And before you say it, it is technically against Resistance regulations but—"

"I'm in, sign me up." ' _I need to find out who this android is, maybe I can get a similar power.'_

"Wow, someone's ready to fight. I like the spirit, but you should know these machines are next level, nothing like how they are on the surface and you're basically a walking liability with all that long hair and no pod to support you."

"So I'll cut my hair and I don't need a pod to beat machines."

"You're gonna need one for these machines, especially since we don't allow items in the arena. Hey, how about this, we'll supply you with an older pod model if you're willing to compete in all the ranks."

"I'll do it."

"Great, I'll sign you up...you'll start with Rank E of course. In the meantime, I'll get that pod for you, just sit tight."

' _I should cut my hair, it does get in the way.'_  A2 walked over to a secluded corner where she pulled her hair back and cut it down. Her white locks of hair fell near a puddle of glossy machine oil. It was transparent enough for her to see her reflection so she bent down to get a good look at her new haircut. ' _I cut it pretty short, but it doesn't look that bad on me.'_

10101010000 "Don't kid yourself, 010101010101 you'll always look terrible A2." 010101010000

"...not this again. So what, it's not real so it doesn't matter."

"—Hey competitor, I got your pod ready!"

A2 went back to the receptionist and she received a bulky hunk of metal and wires that was supposed to be her pod.

"You might have to routinely work on it, but this one has a special sniper function that was used during the earlier battles of the 14th machine war, that's why it has the cool scope attached to it!"

"That's not gonna end up being useless and impractical." Begrudgingly, she booted up her pod on the way to the arena and it floated up beside her.

Pod 713: Hello, I am tactical support unit model 713, I will provide firing support for this YoRHa unit. What is your designation so that I may better be of service to you?

"A2."

Pod 713: What are unit A2's intentions so that I may— [Error]

Her pod suddenly powered down so A2 had to carry it into the arena. "Worthless piece of junk."

Much to her surprise, an audience of resistance androids filled the coliseum seats, yelling and cheering in anticipation for the match that was about to unfold. Hell, there was even an MC android blasting into her microphone to fire everyone up, "Aaaaand we're ready to kick off a new E-rank battle! Don't let the low rank fool you—if you lower your guard, you'll be scrap. Now, LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!"

' _Guess I better put on a show for everyone while I'm at it.'_  Discarding her pod on the ground, A2 threw herself at the fray of machines. While she wasn't one to pay attention to machine behavior, they were noticeably more bloodthirsty and violent than usual. Their screams felt real, agonizing even when her sword sliced through them, a sound she didn't how much she loved hearing until now. For once, they desperately wanted to rip her apart as much as she wanted to and it made the battle all the more exciting for her.

One machine, in particular, held an intense hatred for her unlike any she'd face before. No matter how many times she threw it down, it kept getting itself back up and crying out, "DIE ANDROID! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" The machine somehow even managed to stab A2's leg when she was too focused on fighting the other machines to pay attention to it, which proved to be a fatal mistake on the machine's part.

When the pain of the stab wound was registered, something vicious turned on inside A2.  _'I don't care if I lose myself again. You're not here to stop me.'_  She clamped down on her sword with her teeth and opted to tear the machine apart with her bare hands. "You're...done...!" The remaining machines seized the opportunity to attack her from behind while she briefly unarmed herself, but they quickly got their heads smashed in with several swift kicks and punches.

' _I could keep killing these machines forever. This is nothing!'_

"Our competitor's doing pretty well against these machines, but how will she do during Phase 2?!" The MC said.

The arena floor went pitch black and the machine bodies sunk into the darkness.

"That's right, you've heard 'em, you've seen 'em... ladies and gentlemen say hello to our HEARTLESS MACHINES! Few have made it to Phase 2 and even fewer have survived past this round. Will our own competitor come out on top when time's up or will she SUCCUMB TO DAAAAARKNESS!"

A monstrous creature clawed its way out of the darkness, while its presence had the audience erupt into a frenzy of screaming and hollering, A2 was unfazed. Her and Sora always ended up fighting some horrifying combination of heartless and machine during their travels together, but now Sora was gone and she had to face the monster alone.

A2 clenched her swords in her hand, she was confident Iron Will and Engine Blade would carry her to victory just as it had throughout her match.  _'I may not be able to kill it, but I can still take it down. I just need to find its vulnerable point.'_  But that was a task that sounded easier in her head than put to action, A2 had no choice but to retreat until she found an opening.

The heartless was unique in how it attacked A2. Rather than stomp around or flail its arms at her, it pulled off the machine bodies entangled inside itself and launched them at A2. The Engine Blade was a light, yet powerful enough sword for her to quickly slash through the machines in succession, but even she couldn't keep up with all the attacks and a machine crashed into her.

"Ughh...I'll have to do maintenance later..." As A2 struggled to stand up, the heartless propelled its arm at her and trapped her in its slimy tentacles.

"Fuck, this isn't good!" The heartless slowly dragged her closer to its body and she heard lost voices screaming at her out of nowhere. All she knew was that if she couldn't escape in time, her voice would be the one screaming into the void next.

"̴̞̿H̵̛̖Ȇ̷͙L̵͔̂P̴̛̠ ̸̺̔M̶̟͝Ẹ̸͒,̷̺̚ ̵͔̓S̴͙̍O̷̙̕M̵̟͘E̵̗͠Ỏ̵ͅŅ̸̔E̸̖̕ ̵̢̀Ḫ̶̄E̷̢͊L̸͖͐P̷̻̈́ ̴̰́M̵̲̕È̴̬!̷̛̟"̸͕̎

"̵̟̾G̶͖̓E̶̟̚T̸̫̉ ̶̣̊Ò̶̩U̷͕̔T̴͕̈́ ̵̬̆Ȍ̴̧F̸̭͘ ̵͓͝H̴̬͠Ê̷̪R̶̗͊E̷̹̿ ̴̛̯W̷͇̾H̴̬̊Ĩ̷͕L̷̙̾Ė̶͙ ̴̫́Y̵̘̔O̸̠̓Ṳ̸̍ ̶͓̚C̸̺̎A̴̡͌N̴͎̈́!̶͕̾"̴͕̀

"̵͈̓N̷̯͘O̵̼͆Ŏ̵̯O̴̠̓O̶͈͝O̷͇͑,̵͛͜ ̷͉̿I̴͉͠ ̵̀͜Ď̶̩O̷̻͆N̵͓͝'̵̹̓T̴̤͛ ̵̣͌W̷̗͗A̷͇̎N̶͓͆T̵̹͝ ̴̡͝Ị̶̔T̸̺̔ ̸͕́T̷̠͌O̶̻̐ ̷̲̕È̴̡N̵͈͝D̷̲̐ ̸̾͜L̴̡̍I̴̺͋K̶̤̔E̸̓ͅ ̴͈̌T̷͇̽H̴͙͠Ǐ̷̡Ś̶̥!̴̜͛"̶͍̈́

' _These voices sound more android than machine.'_

Pod 713: Hello, what are unit A2's intentions so that I may better be of service to you?

"Took you long enough! Help me kill this bastard you useless piece of shit!"

Pod 713: Affirmative. 'Kill this bastard' mode engaged

Her pod shot a laser beam at the arm, severing her from the heartless, then it transformed itself into a sniper rifle. "Now we're getting somewhere!" Running all the way to the opposite end, A2 took aim at the heartless. ' _Haven't used a gun since the descent, this is gonna make things a lot easier. I'll try shooting at its chest to weaken it.'_

A2 waited until the heartless made the mistake of grabbing a machine out of its chest to shoot a round of energy projectiles at it. Then she swung the butt end of her rifle to destroy the incoming machine.

Pod 713: Error: using this pod as a blunt weapon is ill-advised

"Gotta admit though, that was pretty badass!"

Pod 713: Irrevelant observation

"Yeah, yeah, but now this fight is mine!"

With the heartless in a weakened state, she took her swords out and gave her pod the signal to return to its original form. "I don't know how many programs you got, but can you at least do the bomb thing to cover me while I take this thing down!"

Pod 713: Running A130: Bomb program.

Now that A2 was closing the distance between them, the heartless could no longer rely on its initial machine throwing strategy. So it fell back on the classic stomping and flailing arms technique that A2 could easily dodge with the help of her pod. When A2 finally found an opening, she used it to scale up its giant arms, then all the way to the black mass she figured was its head and stabbed it multiple times.

"Take this you bastard!"

*BEEEEP

"And that's all she wrote folks!" The MC yelled.

At the ring of the buzzer, the heartless dispersed into individual shadows and A2 was left to fall.

10110101111 "She's the only one that I know it's fake. 1010101010 ... and no matter what, I always hate when I'm around her." 0101111111

_'This is all just stupid code, so why do I still feel bad for leaving him?'_

_'I mean, why are we even programmed to feel this way? We're just androids, but we're still so human. It's sick.'_

A2's pod lowered her to the ground safely where she received thunderous cheers and applause from the audience that snapped her back to reality. After she left the arena she went straight to the receptionist for the next rank. "What do you got for me?"

"Your reward for clearing the E-rank battle, you did great out there, congratulations."

A2 was hoping for money or even weapons, something practical, but her 'reward' consisted of hair colors she didn't want.

"Aw, what's with the face? Try it out, it's nice to distract ourselves from our everyday lives, otherwise we'll go insane from the constant fighting."

"Constant fighting is the only thing that keeps me from going insane."

"Well, then let me get you signed up for the next —"

"I AM SORRY. I AM SORRY." The loud pleading of a machine grabbed the attention of A2.

"You should be, you're useless!" The resistance android yelled. "I should take you The Pit and be done with it..."

"Tch, what's her problem?" A2 asked.

"Just a machine not doing what its told, some of the androids here buy machines to place bets on during matches. I can hook you up if you're interested."

"I'll pass."

"Alright, well good luck on your D-Rank battle, I'm sure you'll do great!"

The rest of the battles that followed were pretty straightforward; fight a few insanely high-level machines, survive long enough when the heartless possessed their corpses, then be disappointed at the end when she received more hair colors and other pointless cosmetics as a reward.

With her pod to aid her, A2 breezed through the ranks at a rapid pace. Not even the most bloodthirsty machine could exceed her desire to keep fighting. She had to. Fighting was her new drug that she became addicted to so she wouldn't have to hear his voice in her head. All that mattered was the battlefield and who would come out alive at the end, which she always did.

Then it was over.

"Congratulations. Here's your reward for clearing the S-rank battle, I'm sure you'll like this one." The receptionist must have been joking because she handed her a skimpy outfit just to let her down one more time.

"What the hell is this?"

"It's a revealing piece of women's clothing that humans used to wear. With clothing like this, you have to wonder why they even bother wearing anything at all, eh? Ah, well that's humans for ya. It's yours now, take it. You deserve it after all that crazy fighting you did out there, haven't seen a battle like that in forever."

 _'The other coliseums better not be this disappointing.'_  A2 threw the revealing outfit on the ground only for a resistance android to pick it up.

"I'd think you'd look good in it, better than what you got on right now," The android said, walking up to her.

"Get lost."

"Hey give me a break, I've watched all of your matches and they were amazing! You got some great fighting skills and killer looks to match." The android tried to put his arm around her, but she immediately slapped it away.

"Don't touch me."

"Noted, you sure gave those heartless a taste of their own medicine back there, pretty badass if you ask me!"

"...Those heartless bother me. You sure it's safe to have them out in a place like this?"

"Yeah, yeah, we got a YoRHa android like you that controls them no problem. Besides, using the heartless to fuck around with the machines is the best part about them!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, I'll show you 'The Pit'." He walked over to one of his machines who was trembling in fear. "Get up and follow me, I'm taking you on a little field trip."

"No, no, please, don't take me away! I'll be good, I promise!"

"I said get up and follow me or I'll turn you into scrap."

"O-Okay. I'm coming."

' _Maybe he can tell me more about this place and who runs it.'_  A2 followed the resistance android down a grimy hallway that led them to an open area where the ground caved in.

"This is where they keep all the heartless, cool huh?"

"Why is it empty?"

"It only fills up for matches so they don't escape out into the lobby, but there's always a few of 'em lurking in the tunnels—watch," He ripped off his machine's arm, then dropped it in the pit and it got devoured by a heartless within seconds. "We're not technically supposed to be here since it's dangerous, it's almost like we're on a high-risk date~"

She scoffed at his advances. "So who's the android that controls the heartless?"

"Uh...I don't really know much about that."

"It sounds like you're hiding something."

"Trust me, you don't wanna know."

"This is a waste of time." A2 stood up. "I can't stay here, something's bound to happen with all these heartless." She tried to walk away, but a metal gate slammed in front of her.

She whipped her head back. "If you did this to trap me in I'm gonna murder you!"

"No it wasn't me, I swear, it's like a match is starting up or something, look." He directed her attention to The Pit that was now quickly filling up with heartless.

"We're dead if we stay here! Pod, try and destroy the gate." While her pod initiated another bomb program on the gates, an android cloaked in shadows emerged from the darkness in front of them.

"You're the one I want, A2."

"You're not going anywhere near her!" The resistance android tried in vain to protect A2 with a dagger, but the cloaked android merely grabbed him by the head and discarded him into The Pit.

"NO, NO, AAAAHHHH!"

"What the hell is going on?!" A2 held her sword out as the cloaked android stepped closer to her.

"Oh, they didn't tell you the ultimate prize for winning the Gambler's Coliseum? Then I'll get you well-acquainted." He gestured over to the newly formed heartless crawling out of The Pit. "Androids make for pretty strong heartless, but I guess you were too busy fighting them to notice."

"...Shit...don't think I'm gonna let you do the same to me, you runt!"

"And who's going to stop me? Sora's not here to protect you anymore."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death of Emotion**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May or may not of been inspired by soul eater for this chapter


	30. Gods Bound By Rul[E]s

**RADIANT GARDEN**

A dark portal formed at the top of Ansem's castle and Adam stepped out into the light with his Knights beside him. "So this is where Eve ended up. What a beautiful place this is and it's full of so many humans, shame it'll end up in ruin soon." He walked around, enjoying the view of the radiant town under him.

"I'll perform a wide-scale experiment that far surpasses the confines of Earth. Tell me, how many machines have you collected by now?"

_Enough to conquer this world my liege_

"We'll need more than just enough to conquer this world, but enough to bring all worlds down to its knees. And then we'll see just how superior and evolved these humans are."

* * *

"How do you know Sora, who the hell are you?!" A2 demanded.

"Meet me in the arena and you'll see." The metal gates opened up. "Oh- and if you try to escape, my heartless will end you." He disappeared back into the darkness.

000010101 "This is what you deserve A2." 1111111

A2 slammed her fist on the wall. "No...what did I get myself into?" She sunk to the ground. "He's right... Sora's gone. I'm just gonna die here and become a heartless."

Pod 713: Negative. This pod's sole purpose is for the protection of unit A2, therefore, this pod will not allow such an event to occur.

It transformed itself into a sniper for A2. "Huh, maybe you're not so useless after all."

Pod 713: This pod is appreciative of unit A2's regard

"Don't get used to it."

When she went out in the lobby, it was completely empty, not a resistance android in sight. Even the receptionist was gone, which she figured meant they were all waiting for her in the arena. ' _Guess if this is it, might as well go out in a bang.'_ Armed and dangerous, A2 entered the arena floor where the mysterious android stood in anticipation.

"Here we are folks, the fight you never knew you wanted to see. The talented, machine-crushing newcomer versus the android who makes this coliseum all possible behind the scenes! Ladies and gentlemen, you will be the first to witness all the blood, the carnage, the VIOLENCE that's about to unfold on this arena floor aaaand I'm rambling again. Let's just get on with this match already!" The MC android screamed.

"So glad you could make it," The mysterious android said.

A2 took aim with her gun. "Not like you gave me much of a choice."

"Eh, comes with the territory. Hope you're ready to —" His head abruptly snapped back from the impact of getting shot in the head multiple times.

"You talk too much." Replacing her gun with Iron Will, A2 rushed down to the mysterious android and used the flesh-ravaging, bone-hewing cutting power of Iron Will's blade to slice his body in half. Now was the part where she expected a copious amount of blood to spill out and some sparks to fly. Instead, in an infinitely less satisfying way, an inky black substance spilled out his wires and circuitry that put the two halves of his body back together.

' _This was the same thing that happened to me back in the Forest Kingdom.'_ "So the way you controlled the heartless was to become one yourself. Isn't that pathetic," A2 said.

"Ha ha ha..." The android threw his cloak off, unveiling the mystery of himself to A2 and the rest of the audience. Most of the skin off 42S's body and face was clawed off and without his most human defining feature intact, he looked like a walking android corpse. "Our existence is  _already_  meaningless!"

She swung at him, but her sword went straight through his body.

"We're androids that are inevitably disposable, but I can give you eternal purpose beyond what we were built for!"

"Pod, let's go with a bomb program!" She threw her sniper in the air and her pod transformed back in time to overwhelm 42S with explosives.

Even though the explosives mangled up 42S's body pretty well, it was nothing the darkness couldn't mend. "So be it, unfortunately, you don't have a choice in this matter." On his command, hundreds of heartless rose from the darkness to surface the arena. A2 knew she was powerless against the heartless in the end, but it didn't stop her from fighting because a purposeless action meant more than doing nothing at all.

So A2 chose to wager her own existence as a testament to her resolve. And even as the darkness inevitably swallowed her whole, she could at least die knowing she tried to defy her own fate.

_Number 4...16...21...I spent so long wanting to be with you guys again..._

_Of course, the first time I actually wanted to live is when I finally have to die._

"A2!"

Something warm enveloped her body, saving her from fading away into nothingness. Only his light was bright enough to shine down in the deepest depths of her darkness.

"I'll take it from here."

"Dumbass...why'd you come back for me?"

"I said I'd promise to protect you A2, even if you're in the darkness, I'll always bring you back to the light." Sora's promise to her manifested into Oathkeeper and he stepped forward to 42S, barely able to contain his anger. "I won't let you hurt my friends anymore!"

"Must be my lucky day for you to just bring yourself to me."

"How do you know who I am?!"

"What? You don't recognize me? Maybe this will jog your memory!" He summoned his Type-4O lance to clash with Sora's Oathkeeper.

"...42S?! Why are you doing this?!"

"Just watch! I'm going to prove I don't need you to be strong, and I don't need you to save me! The heartless have given me all the strength I'll ever need and now you're going to become one next!" 42S brought forth creatures that appeared to be constructed out of nothing more than the trimmings of shadows. Sora's mind went to heartless at first, but a slice with his keyblade proved otherwise when blood spilled out and cried as if it were human.

"What the heck are these?!"

"Shades. Enemies from the old world your keyblade can't destroy," 42S answered.

"—Sora!" Maybe Sora's keyblade was made for fighting heartless, but A2's Iron Will was made to spill blood and it was hungry for whatever the Shades had to offer. She drove the giant blade into the chest of the Shade that was getting ready to attack Sora, then faced the other Shades. "Go fight that shitshow, these guys are mine!"

While Sora and 42S were locked in battle, A2 was up against the Shades. In a flippant disregard for her enemies, A2 lodged Iron Will into the ground, then leaned back on the blade with her arms crossed and an inviting look on her face. "Gonna show me a good time?"

A2's taunt did its job of provoking the Shades to attack her all at once. When they got close enough, A2 used her sword to jump up into the air where her pod dropped a barrage of bombs on them.

Based on the copious amount of blood splattered everywhere, A2 figured she'd killed them all, but a few outliers remained hidden and struck A2 in the back when she made the mistake of lowering her guard. "Damn it, you're gonna regret you did that!"

Sora briefly stopped fighting with 42S to see A2 suffered a flesh wound down her back. "That's it... YOU'RE DONE 42S!" His own darkness dwelling beneath the surface manifested into Oblivion. Together with his two keyblades born from the duality of light and dark, he powered up into Double Form, dual-wielding both blades.

Oathkeeper and Oblivion worked in perfect synchrony to demolish 42S. He didn't stand a chance against Sora, not while he was still an android. So he untethered himself from his last attachment to humanity, his own body, and fell into his shadows where the heartless he once commanded began tearing him apart limb from limb.

"I won't let you become a heartless either!" Sora destroyed the heartless that accumulated around him, then bent down to his level. "42S...I wish it didn't have to turn out like this, we really could've been good friends."

"...All I could see was weakness in you when you left me, and I always thought it was because you were too weak to fight for this world, but even with all the powers of the darkness, I still couldn't beat you. Your humanity gives you strength, and I will never have that."

"Me being who I am has nothing to do with this, the darkness in your heart is why you lost! Don't lower yourself for me just because I'm human!"

"Easy for you to say when you're practically a God! I never got a chance to be anything more than an android and the darkness was the only way for me to have any sort of power over my fate! So if I can't even become a heartless, then at least I'll die on my own terms!" 42S grabbed the end of Sora's keyblade and pushed it into his chest.

"...42S?"

Sora backed away and he fell forward. "...No, no... this can't keep happening. I don't want to watch anyone else die anymore..." He ran over to A2, who was in the process of bandaging herself. "A2...please tell me you're okay at least!"

"I'm still in one piece somehow."

"Thank goodness, just...stay close to me."

"I can handle myself."

"I wasn't saying you couldn't, I'm just worried about you that's all. I like your new haircut by the way!"

"...thanks," She said quietly before turning away from him. "Look, I ...I'm not really good at these things, but I'm sorry for being an asshole to you. I was angry and confused at the time, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You already do so much for this world...I didn't want to believe that you being here was just some dumb mistake."

"It's okay, I never wanted to hurt you by not telling you everything about me. I just hope you can believe in me again, even if you don't think any of this real, my heart knows that it is!"

"I know all that crap I said to you, but if I'm being honest, I don't know where the code ends and where myself begins anymore. You make everything so confusing that the lines are blurred... and I start to wonder if I were a human, if this is what it would feel like. That's how I know this is real at least. It has to be. Nothing that's not meant to be real would ever make me lose my goddamn mind like this."

She scoffed. "Forget it, that sounded so stupid. I don't even know what I'm trying to say to you..."

Sora smiled at her. "That wasn't stupid at all, it was actually really nice and thoughtful for you to be open like that with me."

A2 scowled at him. "...Whatever." She was playing it off like she always did in attempt to offset her rising pulse rate.  _'This kid pisses me the hell off.'_

"—What an amazing performance." The voice belonged to a man they weren't sure if he were an android, machine, or even a human. "I'm surprised you've made it this far."

Sora jumped up. "What the- what're you talking about?! Who are you?!"

He approached Sora with his hands folded behind his back. "A boy like you infiltrating Earth, how absurd."

"Look if this is about the darkness or whatever, then let's just cut to the chase and get to the part where I mop the floor with you!"

"Ah ha ha! You do have an interesting character, but I agree. Allow me to introduce myself, I am ██████, the President and CEO of ██████. Let's see what you're made of, shall we?"

Before either the CEO or Sora could make a move, A2 shot an energy bullet straight through his skull.

The CEO cranked his head back to A2 who was already reloading for another shot. "...You dare defy your superior for someone who doesn't even belong here and has disgraced this world!"

"Last time I checked, you don't belong here either." She took another shot at him, but he dodged this time around.

"That's certainly unexpected, I see the damage this new foreign element has done. Looks like I'll have to remove Sora to keep world order myself."

"Good luck with that!" Sora fired a blizzard spell at the CEO, then came up from behind him and slashed his keyblade across his back.

A2 wasn't too far behind with her Engine Blade. "Sora, right behind you!"

He backflipped to quickly get out of the way so A2 could swing her sword at the CEO, but he used his own forearm to block the attack.

"How does it feel to look at your God dead in the eye?" The CEO asked.

"You're not exactly easy on the eyes." A2 pulled back, then her pod shot a laser beam straight through at the CEO's head.

Although it didn't blast the CEO's head off like she hoped it would, it did briefly stun him and cause him to stumble backwards, which left him wide open for a counterattack. Sora threw his keyblade at him, knocking him back again, but a follow-up attack didn't prove to be as successful as the CEO shielded himself with an energy barrier.

 _'He's getting ready for a desperation move.'_  "Sora, over here. Behind me," A2 said, switching her sword out for Iron Will.

Just as A2 anticipated, the CEO blasted out Emil head projectiles in a violent fit of rage, but they were big enough for A2 to easily knock away with Iron Will and send it right back to him.

"Whoa, guess those Emil heads must be popular," Sora said.

"Stay focused, we're not done yet," A2 said.

"Not bad you two," The CEO cracked his knuckles. "But you're not the only ones with the power of friendship. Sora, I believe it's time you meet an old colleague of mine."

"—Actually he won't be joining you this fight, so I've decided to step in his place." Another man, this time with a slightly younger appearance floated down beside the CEO. "Hello, I'm ██████, the video game director for ██████. I have to say, I was quite surprised when my boss told me you ended up here. Anything's possible I suppose."

"This is starting to get weird!" Sora pointed his keyblade at the newcomer. "Whoever you are, you're no match against me and A2!"

"Always so bright and positive, Sora. Come on, you're telling me this world didn't break you yet?"

"Shit, if you guys are our Gods, no wonder this world is so fucked up," A2 said.

"Yeah, what she said, but with less curse words!"

"You're so high and mighty with that keyblade, but you know that wasn't even my original design." The video game director snapped his fingers and Sora's keyblade turned into a chainsaw sword instead.

"Agh, whatever, I can still fight you!"

"Not if all your attacks were relegated to cards instead."

A deck of cards appeared in Sora's hand and he couldn't even swing his chainsaw sword without it getting dictated by card mechanics.

"That's it, I'll take them on!" A2 went for the video game director first and he blocked her incoming attack with his own keyblade.

"Nice, right? Everyone's got one of them these days." He broke through her defense, then grabbed her by the arm and threw her up in the air where he slammed her back down on the ground. "Time to send you back into pre-production."

"A2! I'm coming!" After finally figuring out the cards he was dealt with, Sora tried to attack the video game director with a sleight, but his move was immediately canceled out with a 0 card that left Sora defenseless.

"Now have a taste of your own medicine!" The video game director flung his keyblade at Sora, sending him crashing into the arena floor. Just to relish in his own triumph over him, he walked over to Sora while he was in the middle of trying to get back up. "Just accept your fate. This is what happens when you stray off the path your creators intended for you."

"Who even are you?! Why are you doing this?!"

"What do you mean? I am you Sora and I know you better than anyone. This world will destroy your heart before you even get a chance to save it."

"...Then I guess you don't know me as well as you think you do." Sora raised his head. "I'm tired of everyone telling what I can or can't do, I don't care if you're a God or whoever you say you are, I'm the one who'll decide my own future!" He may not have had his keyblade, but they could never take away his courage that defined who he was. Balling his hand into a fist, he punched the video game director flat in the jaw.

Finally, Sora's true keyblade returned to him and he froze the video game director with a Blizzara spell. He decided to run back to A2, not expecting to be shot at by the CEO's machine gun. "Aah, this is insane!" Covering himself with Protega, he dove on the ground in front of A2 to make sure she wouldn't get riddled with bullet holes.

"A2!" Sora shook her body until she stirred awake. "A2, how are you feeling?"

"... I can keep fighting." A2 turned her pod back to its original form. "Sora, the president's mine, you handle the other one."

With Sora taking on the video game director and A2 using her pod's gatling function to fire back at the CEO, it wasn't long before they both elevated themselves above the arena floor to mark the end of their battle.

"Hm. I think that's about enough for today," The CEO said. "Allow us to give you a parting gift before we leave though."

With his final words, they unleashed a cyclone of Emil heads onto the arena floor.

"Shit, we're just gonna have to keep running, let's go kid!" A2 pulled Sora by the arm, dodging the hundreds of Emil heads herself until the CEO and the video game director flat out exploded, leaving machine debris in their destruction.

A2 let go of Sora. "What the hell just happened? Those were some fucked up machines if you can even call them that..."

"Not sure, but I got new keyblades out of it!" Sora put his hands behind his head. "You sure got yourself into a lot of trouble without me, huh?"

"I wasn't exactly asking for any of this to happen!"

"Man, wish you were a keyblade wielder so I wouldn't have to worry about you all the time."

"A keyblade? Who needs a lame toy like that when I got a gun now."

"I mean, that's cool I guess, but my Shooting Star keyblade can turn into two guns!" He did finger guns just to rub it in which pissed A2 off. "Speaking of, how'd you even get a pod, this little guy's awesome!"

"The coliseum gave it to me because I'm a liability apparently. Best thing I got from this shitty place and it's barely functional."

Pod 713: This pod will take unit A2's comment as appreciation.

Sora chuckled, then gave the pod a long overdue pat on the head. "Your pod definitely fits you, so it sounds like you got other stuff too. Can I see it?"

"It's just a bunch of useless junk... but I do have something you might like." Smirking, she tossed him the revealing outfit from her database. "Maybe your girlfriend would find use out of that."

"Hm, what is this?" Sora held the outfit in front of him, his face quickly turning a deep shade of red when he realized what he was holding. "I-I'm not giving this to her!"

"I'm sure you're already thinking about how she looks in it~" She teased.

"Shut up, am not A2!" Sora attempted to lunge at her, forgetting she was at least three times his weight and ended up with a small lump on his forehead.

"Nice try, let's go back to the receptionist to see if we'll get anything decent this time."

When they left the arena, they were met with a crowd of excited resistance androids from the audience. Although most of the praise was directed to Sora so A2 could slip past the crowd and head straight to the receptionist who warmly greeted her. "That was amazing watching you guys fight at peak performance, especially that human kid. But I guess we'll have to close shop down here for a while or we'll get eaten alive by the heartless again."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Eh, it's for the best. I always thought this place brings out the worst in us androids. Well, that's enough from me, here's your prize for winning the fight and before you get grumpy, I slipped in a little something extra for ya. Don't forget about us, okay?"

A2 received more cosmetic items ranging from masks to pod bullets she definitely didn't want, but the fine bottle of liquor more than made up for it. "This is for me? Are you serious?!"

"Yeah, take it, you earned it."

"This place isn't half bad!"

"—A2, look at all the stuff I got from the androids!" Sora came up to her with weapons, plug-in chips, she even saw some money in there—useful stuff she sure as hell never got from putting her ass on the line at the coliseum. "Oh, what's that in your hand?" He asked.

"A good time." She uploaded the booze to her database, then started taking things out of Sora's hands. "I'll just hold onto that stuff for you, kid. We're getting out of here so we can have some real fun."

"Before you two go, I'd check out the area to the right of the Pit, I'm sure a machine killing fanatic like you would love it," The receptionist said.

"No, thanks. Last time I went back somewhere I almost got turned into a heartless."

"Wait, what?! I need to see this!" He ran down to the back of the hall where several pitiful looking machines were locked behind a cell, shaking out of fear.

"Help me...Help me!" One of the machines cried when it saw Sora. "Please...kill me, save me from this place."

The android standing by the cell kicked the bars as hard as he could. "Shut up! You should be lucky I haven't fed you lot to the heartless by now!"

"Why would you do something so messed up like this to them?!"

"Don't you dare get all sanctimonious on me, these little bastards killed 8 of my subordinates!" He snatched Sora up by the collar. "You don't understand what it's like to have loved ones cut to pieces or get eaten alive!"

"Put him down right now or I swear to god you're gonna wish you were one of those machines!" A2 yelled.

The android threw Sora on the ground. "Tch, guess having a human to protect you at all times made you lose your edge."

"That's it you mother-" Before A2 could beat the lights out of him, she felt a tug at her arm.

"You don't have to do that A2, I'm okay. Let's just get out of here."

"I was just about to leave." But when they were outside the coliseum, A2 was still fuming. "What an asshole, I LOST my edge?! I should've just !#4&8 and then 99&%$#!&!"

 _'She's completely terrifying.'_ "A2...I think I'm starting to realize how important I am to you guys, I'm so much more than just a human."

"Huh? You're just now starting to realize this?"

"Well, now I  _really_  get it because of everything that happened in the coliseum. Androids see hope in me and when I'm gone, they think it's gone too."

*ring-ring

"It's 9S..." He took out his gummiphone and answered the call.

"Sora, things are really bad here at the factory, we can't hold these Nobodies back any- [call ended]"

"Oh no, A2, we need to go to the Abandoned Factory, hurry!"

A2 could tell Sora was on the verge of going into panic mode so she didn't pry any further and simply went along with it. The Flooded City wasn't too far away from the Abandoned Factory so their trip was relatively short, but when they arrived, they were already too late.

Not only were Pascal and the machine children nowhere to be found, but 2B and 9S suffered heavy damage in vain so they could protect the machines. Sora destroyed every last Nobody in the factory with Oblivion's shotlock, then immediately ran over to them with a Curaga spell.

"...This is all my fault. I shouldn't have left you guys alone for so long," Sora said.

"Don't worry about us, our job was to protect Pascal and the machine children...and we failed," 2B said.

"There were just so many of them and they kept regenerating, we couldn't keep up," 9S said.

"No, I'm the one with the keyblade, it's all on me. I can at least help you guys get out of here."

"That's not necessary. Whatever you did expedited my recovery, I can walk on my own," 2B said.

"Well I wouldn't mind getting a little help," 9S said.

"Sure." Sora put his arm over his back. "To the camp, right?"

"Yeah, I just need to rest up a little."

For once when the four of them returned to the Resistance Camp, none of them were in desperate need of medical attention. Although that could very well change with the dirty looks A2 kept getting sent her way from the Resistance Androids when she came in.

"Back so soon," Anemone said, walking up to them. "Hopefully there won't be any more drama from you."

"Tell that to your androids," A2 said.

"You brought that on yourself. By the way, can anyone explain to me why machine sightings have gone down by over 50% because 'white creatures' keep taking them away? It's a recent eyewitness report I got, I'd say that's a good thing, but nothing fortunate comes without consequences."

"Those are Nobodies... they took Pascal and his entire village of machines away too," Sora said.

"The village machines, huh? First it's heartless and now this, I'm sure this is in preparation for some kind of attack."

"...The Nobodies are controlled by Adam."

"Didn't we kill that guy," A2 said.

"Someone whose heart is tied to the darkness never goes away easily."

"Ah, then this definitely sounds like he's building an army. Suppose we'll have to start war preparations for the worst. Thanks for letting me know, I'll send some androids out on the lookout for more of these so-called 'Nobodies', unless you'd be interested."

"Yes, I would actually, I don't want the Nobodies to start taking away androids too if they run out of machines!"

Anemone ruffled his hair out of affection. "Glad to know you're looking out for us. I'll send over the location of the areas with high machine activity we believe are suspect for another attack."

"Thanks-" He turned back to the androids. "Sorry, I didn't even ask if it was okay with you guys."

"You're our main objective Sora, of course. And it doesn't seem like that tower is of any concern at the moment," 2B said. "Not when there's an active enemy on our hands."

"Tower? Do you mean that big white thing we passed by?"

"Yes, but right now it's locked by a mechanism of sorts."

"No problem, leave that mechanism to me! So I guess we'll set out whenever you guys are ready."

"9S is in the back room right now, I'll retrieve him after I stock up on more supplies." 2B headed to the weapon supply trader, leaving Sora and A2 to fill in the gap of time.

"Now it's just me and you A2! Wanna help me cook some food for myself so I don't die of starvation?"

"That doesn't sound boring at all..." She stepped away from him. "I'll see you in about 20 minutes Sora, don't catch yourself on fire." A2 left Sora to walk over to Devola and Popola's weapon shop.

"Ugh, you're here A2, " Devola said with disdain.

Popola elbowed Devola. "What she  _means_  to say is that it's great to see you and Sora are back on good terms!"

"I would've said that if I meant it. So are you looking to buy some weapons for once or..."

A2 waved the bottle of liquor in front of her.

Devola jumped to her feet. "I'm so glad you're here A2! Popola, run the shop for me while I'm gone."

"I got it, just keep that stuff away from me."

They went to the back of the camp so they'd be out of Anemone's constant watch, which made Sora curious for whatever they were planning to do so he followed them. ' _This can't be good if A2 and Devola are this excited.'_ He found the table they claimed where A2 was in the middle of pouring out drinks.

"What're you guys doing?" He asked.

"Just about to have a small drink," A2 said. "I wasn't about to offer you any so you can get that look off your face now."

"...Are you sure it's a good idea to drink right before a mission? I know you guys are androids, but there's probably some bad side effects."

A2 and Devola already downed a few shots while Sora was talking which pretty much sealed their fate. "So much for self-control you two, well I'm going to check on Nines to see how he's doing." He turned to walk away, but before he could leave, A2 grabbed his arm.

"Awwwwww, coME On, don't leave Sora ur no fun!"

"You don't look okay A2, your face is all flushed and stuff."

"WHAaaat? No, I'm PERFectly fine." A2 dragged Sora back over to the table. "Sora, ya know, you remind me a lot of old me before I got super 7%#544 up. I used to be haaappy n rly dumb, then alllllllllll of my friends died cause it turns out we were just data fodder for YoRHa, isn't that funny?! Hahahahaha!"

"That's sooo sad A2, pour another drink n it'll all be better," Devola said.

"No it's okay, 'cuz now Sora's my friend even though he's a %$#$99^ alien isn't that right? Ur like my bestest friend ever who's still alive and everything."

"You're really not acting like yourself, so I'm gonna leave if that's-"

"Stay with me Sora, I'm just drunk, stupid. I'm not gonna hurt you or anything." She leaned forward and caressed his cheek. "hahaha , ur like a drug to me Sora, I don't really need to drink when I'm around you."

"Ya know what that's called? Co-fucking-dependence meeeeow," Devola said.

"Shut up! No one asked you Popola!" Her hand moved down to Sora's collar and she pulled him close. "You wanna know what I want to do with you right now?"

His heart was ready to beat out of his chest with how freaked out he was. "I- I don't know if I want the answer..."

"Aw, he's so cute when he's terrified," Devola said.

"He should be." A2 summoned her sword. "S0RA, I wanna see you in action right now! Let's fight!"

He breathed a sigh of relief since this was something he could easily get out of. "Yeah, no thanks, you've had way too much to drink."

"Whaaaat? No way! Less have some fun Sora, I wanna ffffffffffight you! That'll teach those stupid androids i haven't lost my edge!"

"I'm good, I think we've done enough fighting for today." He slowly backed away.

"Don't play hard to get Sora~~~~less cut each other open!"

*ring-ring

"OOooh, who's dat Sora?"

"...It's Kairi!" He answered the call. "Hey, what's up, sorry I haven't called in a while, a lot's been happening which I know isn't an excuse not to call you, but I-"

"Aw it's okay, I've been pretty busy too so I haven't had a chance to call myself, but there's kind of a ...situation going on at Destiny Islands."

"What kind of situation?"

"...Bloodthirsty machines from Earth are wreaking havoc all over town. I'm not sure how they got here, but they won't be a problem for long... I'm going to destroy every last one of them."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death of Disconnection**

****

Caption: I can't draw A22222

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Caption: Kairi's fucking pissed at a machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys are staying safe during this pandemic and happy 18th year anniversary to Kingdom Hearts 1 release, even though I'm a day late bc I decided to draw some fanart! Please enjoy, even though the gun looks wonky.
> 
> Edit: I got some feedback and I decided to change a few elements of the CEO boss fight so it isn't as immersion breaking, but still retains all the action scenes as I originally intended. Nothing major, just some dialogue edits.


	31. Wret[C]hed Weaponry

While Adam was scheming to claim the world as his own, his brother Eve was still locked away in the confinements of the laboratory in Ansem's castle. Ansem the Wise, Even and Ienzo worked tirelessly day and night to uncover the truths of Eve's own existence. Although they yielded little progress for the amount of work put in.

"He's a fascinating specimen, isn't he? A Nobody born from the body of a machine," Ienzo focused his microscope on a sample of Eve's skin. "Perhaps this skin is to imitate human-like qualities rather than serve a specific function."

"Ienzo, has it slipped your mind that we're under time constraints? We're not here to perform autopsies, but to stop Eve from awakening. Stay focused on the main objective," Master Ansem warned.

"I understand..."

Deep into the hours, the lights began flickering on and off until it finally powered out.

"How strange. I'll go fetch the castle guard, it's likely a power outage from our extensive work." Master Ansem left the laboratory, leaving Even and Ienzo in the darkness.

"Well, it's not like we have to stop working. I'll try and find the backup generator," Even said.

' _Now that they're gone, this is the perfect opportunity.'_ Ienzo grabbed his scalpel from his workspace, then cast a temporary light spell over the examination table where Eve was strapped to in heavy chains. ' _A slight incision along his anterior brachium shouldn't hurt.'_

However, Eve's arm broke out of the chains and he snatched Ienzo's head.

"You're not my brother."

* * *

"...Kairi, you make me worried when you say stuff like that. Tell me you're okay at least," Sora said, squeezing the gummiphone in his hand.

"I'm fine, everyone's on their way to the town's bunker, but I'm  _not_  going to let the machines have their way, not anymore."

"Atta girl, kill thooose #$8&35% machines!" A2 yelled out in the background.

"Uh, is that A2? She sounds kind of..."

"Yeah, she had a little bit too much to drink."

"So much for tough and scary A2, well I hope she's not the flirtatious type or I might have some competition."

"Wha- no, no way, nothing to worry about here!"

"I'm just teasing, I know you're not that type of guy. Anyways ... I need to leave, but I love you sweetie~"

"Oh...I love you too! But please be safe for me Kairi, don't do anything reckless for me, okay?"

"No promises!"

Sora put his phone away.  _'Kairi's never sounded so serious before. I wish I could do more for her, but we're worlds apart. Guess there's no use in me freaking out over it, I just need to help her by keeping the machines away from the other worlds.'_ He walked over to A2 and Devola who were talking amongst themselves. "A2, you've definitely had enough to drink, let's head out."

He helped A2 to her feet. "daaaaamn it ur such a mood killer!"

"Don't be strangers now you two, stop by more often!" Devola said.

"We'll be back before you know it!"

When they went out into the open, 2B was waiting with her arms crossed alongside 9S. "Don't tell me you drank right before a mission A2, this is just great..." She muttered.

A2 stumbled up to her. "Lissen here you hot piece of #46, I'm still a 9*8&77# machine killer!"

"Right, Sora keep an eye on her in case she passes out."

"Roger that, 2B!"

"Moving on, Anemone sent the coordinates for our latest mission and it looks like we're heading to the Desert Zone for our first location. Hopefully we'll find the answers we need there."

Athough Sora tried to hide it, all he could think about was Kairi, his home, and he couldn't even be there to save either of them. ' _Kairi, whatever's going to happen, I know you'll power through it.'_

**DESTINY ISLANDS**

It was supposed to be another normal day at Destiny Islands. Another normal day where kids could play outside and families could enjoy the nice weather, not held up in emergency bunkers fearing for their lives. Another normal day where Kairi and Naminé could walk out of school after a long day and do whatever dumb stuff teenagers did, not have to witness their own home burn up in flames.

But it wasn't a normal day.

Machines from Earth were destroying the town in a blind rage and outright slaughtering people. The mayor of Destiny Islands ordered an immediate evacuation to the emergency bunkers and so there Kairi and Naminé were, sitting in class one minute, then running for their lives the next.

"I...I can't believe this is happening..." The shock hit Naminé the worst because she couldn't afford to lose her home after living without one for so long, but Kairi had all but emotionally withdrawn herself. And perhaps what scared Naminé the most was to look into the eyes of her best friend and see nothing in them.

Kairi gave Naminé's hand a tight squeeze. "We'll be okay, I promise, just stay inside for me."

"No, I want you to stay with me Kairi! It's scary when I'm alone without you, and...and you're not okay! Your dad said help will be here soon so why can't you just wait it out in the bunker with me?"

"I can't just do nothing while there are machines out there! They  _have_  to be destroyed or they'll destroy us first!"

Naminé put her hands on Kairi's shoulders. "Are you listening to yourself right now?! This isn't you Kairi, you don't let hatred consume you!"

Before Kairi even got the chance to answer, they were ambushed by vicious machines, but Kairi stood strong. Destiny's Embrace manifested in her hands and she destroyed the machines as fast as she could, but it wasn't fast enough to save Naminé who ended up getting a deep gash down her leg from a machine that escaped her radar.

"Naminé!" Kairi rushed over to her with a potion. "No...nonono, shit...Naminé I'm so sorry. Please ... can someone help us?!"

One of the townspeople in the area offered to help and scooped her into his arms. "I'll bring her to the bunker."

"...Kairi...don't do this," Naminé said.

"I have to...it's my turn to protect everyone now." That dark feeling she buried away for so long was now the only thing that pushed her forward into the hellscape that became her town.

Kairi's keyblade laid waste to the machines, reducing metal titans into scraps of metal. Her skills as a keyblade wielder improved dramatically and without fear to hold her back, every machine that dared to cross her path met its untimely end to her blade.

"AAAAHAAHH DIE! DIE DIE DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" An axe wielding machine screamed at her from behind.

"You need to do more than just get behind your opponent to catch them off guard." Raising her keyblade, she cast Mine Square and surrounded herself with explosive magical traps. Once the machine made the mistake of stepping on one, a fiery explosion annihilated it, leaving only blackened machine parts scattered across the town square.

Kairi watched on as the fire from the explosion sustained itself by burning up the machine oil. That putrid smell of burning machine oil brought her back to the Abandoned Factory and now she could finally put a name to that foreign sensation she felt. "...My heart feels so hollow...is this who I am now?" The screeching sound of mechanical screams snapped her back to reality. She dragged her keyblade to the wretched noise where she found several machines attempting to eat a group of machine children.

Carefully, Kairi destroyed the cannibalistic machines, leaving only the machine children left who were shaking and cowering in fear because they could only see the long shadow she cast over them.

"P-Please don't hurt us! Please! I-I'm so scared, I don't wanna die!" One of the machine children wailed.

"I justwannagohome, I-I donwannabescared!"

She squeezed the handle of her keyblade until her knuckles were white, then raised her blade into the air.

_["You're a friend of ours, so we're going to help out each other the best we can!"]_

_["A...friend? We...are friends?"]_

_["Of course, you helped us out big time, Stubby."]_

"..."

"I can't do it." Her keyblade was stuck in the ground beside the machine children and she fell down to her knees in tears. "After everything...I'm still so weak..."

"—Because your heart is full of light, Kairi." Riku picked her up and embraced her. "You're too strong to ever give in to your weaknesses."

She buried her head into his chest so he wouldn't see the tears flowing down her face. "I...I don't know who I am anymore... I just wanted to be strong like you and Sora so I could protect the people I love!"

"Kairi, you've always been strong to me because your light shines the brightest out of all of us and I will always be there for you to make sure you never lose that light. I promise Kairi, I promise..."

"Riku ...thank you. I'm glad you came when you did... I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You can thank Naminé for that. She's the one who called and told me you'd be out here." He faced the machine children, then bent down to their level. "Now, I believe there's someone looking for you little guys, come on, follow me."

"O- Okay mister! Just keep us away from that scary lady!"

Kairi smiled to herself. ' _Naminé's a good friend and Riku's surprisingly good with kids.'_  "I guess even machine kids would miss their parents... so where are you taking them?"

"Back to the gummiship, what's going at Destiny Islands is happening to all worlds."

"Wait- what?!"

"We'll talk more on the ship."

"No way... you're actually inviting me to come along?!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, I don't want you going off on the deep end again, seems like you took after A2 when it comes to machines."

"Aah, really?" Kairi rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, she has rubbed off on me a little bit..." She looked back at the machine children who were gathering around Riku's feet. ' _I wonder if this is why A2 never wanted me to fight the machines. She didn't want me to become like her.'_

Inside the gummiship was King Mickey at the helm and a machine Kairi recognized; Pascal. The machine children left Riku's legs to jump all over his legs instead. "He's here..." Kairi said.

"He's an ally we found lost in the darkness and I know you're not exactly on good terms with machines, but he's actually one of Sora's friends."

"...Maybe he's not so bad if Sora likes him." She hesitantly walked towards him, and by hesitantly, Riku practically had to drag her the entire way.

"Oh, Kairi, it's so good to see you again. I can't express how grateful I am for all of you helping return the children to me. They're all that I have left of my village."

"Uh, yeah, no problem." She rubbed her arm. "...And thank you for being Sora's friend. I know he's going through a rough time."

"Heavens yes, that poor boy is so determined to save everyone he can and while I deeply admire that, I do worry he's putting too much on himself. Last I saw him he had his heart set on finding A2."

"Does the conversation always have to come back to her?"

"My apologies, I wasn't aware you harbored negative feelings towards her. Not that I can blame you."

"Someone sounds jealous," Riku said.

"What- am not! You should be on my side with this, you don't even  _like_  her!"

"Whoa, I'm just calling it how I see it."

"Ugh, whatever, I don't even know why we're talking about this. Riku, what were you going to tell me?"

"Machines have invaded multiple other worlds, not just Destiny Islands, the other guardians of light are fighting them off, but Radiant Garden got hit the worst so it's very likely that Adam's in that world. We'll have to defeat him and his brother, even if it means they go back to Earth."

"I thought we were trying to prevent that from happening?"

"We don't have a choice now, we weren't expecting a wide-scale machine attack like this."

"Maybe we can use Eve as leverage to get them to just stop all of this, they're Nobodies but I'm sure Adam still cares about his brother, right?"

"I wouldn't think too highly of Adam and Eve. They're hateful, revengeful machines who have complete disregard for everything around them, I don't think Adam would risk losing the position he's in right now, not even for his brother," Pascal said.

"Then we can at least try going back to Earth again so Sora doesn't have to face them by himself."

Riku put his hand on Kairi's shoulder. "We'll have to wait and see what happens first. Right now, I just want you to focus on preparing for battle. Based on the data we received from Sora, we're in for a tough fight." With that, he walked over to the front of the ship to check on King Mickey.

Meanwhile, Kairi decided to call Sora to check up on him. "Hey Sora, you okay sweetie? I just wanted to see how you're doing."

"I'm okay, we're at this coliseum in the desert looking for Nobodies. How are things on your side, wait- you're in a gummiship? How'd you end up there, I thought you were at Destiny Islands."

"A lot of stuff happened... don't freak out with what I'm about to say, but I'm on my way to fighting Adam in Radiant Garden."

"Oh my gosh, Kairi! Why  _wouldn't_  I freak out over that?! He was bad enough and now you're gonna take him out on your own?!"

"Not on my own, Riku and the King's with me. This might be our only way to get rid of the machines so we have to take a chance."

"...I wish I could be there with you. I feel like I'm powerless in all of this."

"Don't be, we're keyblade wielders too, we can overcome anything!"

"Yeah...you're right. You guys'll come out on top no problem!"

"So tell me more about this whole coliseum thing you're doing. Sounds kinda cool."

"Ehhh, I think it's cooler when you can actually be a part of it. The machines would only let one person enter the matches because of some dumb rule so we're watching A2 duke it out in the stands."

"Ah, that is right up her alley...Well, it looks like we're almost at Radiant Garden right now. I'll call you back when we beat Adam to the ground!"

"I'm counting on it. Stay safe Kairi, love you."

"...love you too." Kairi joined Riku at the helm of the ship. "Riku...we'll be okay right? Eve's still, you know, zombified so we'll only have to worry about Adam."

"Not anymore. Just got a call from Dilan, Eve's escaped the castle...and left casualties, but Squall and his friends are strong, they'll pull through."

"So now what do we do?"

"The situation's changed and it looks like you were right. We'll need Eve, but only to draw Adam out of hiding. Kairi, we're going to need your light now more than ever."

"I won't let you down. That's a promise."

"Alright, you guys ready? I'm flyin' down to Radiant Garden now," King Mickey said.

**RADIANT GARDEN**

When they arrived at the radiant town, it was silent.

No one was there to fill in the empty streets with the joy and laughter that gave the town its namesake, even the heartless remained in the shadows. Riku, Kairi, and King Mickey ventured further, walking into the castle town where they witnessed the sheer damage the machines caused. There was not a building left intact or a street corner that didn't have a machine corpse lying around.

"Hope everyone's okay, this is unsettling," Kairi said.

"The machines had a pre-emptive strike... and I wasn't there to stop it," Riku said.

"Don't beat yourself up Riku, we had important matters to discuss with Master Yen Sid. No one could've predicted something like this would happen, what counts is that we're here now," King Mickey said.

Suddenly, one of the walls blew out, scattering debris everywhere, and Eve jumped through. "BROTHER...BROTHER!" He charged for Riku with arms stretched out and he readied his keyblade, but another blade reached Eve first.

"GET BACK HERE! YOU'RE MINE!" Following the destruction of Radiant Garden, the sleeping lion inside Squall awakened and he relentlessly pursued Eve all throughout the town so he could give back to him a semblance of the pain he felt. Now that Squall had Eve right when he wanted, the cutting edge of his gunblade ripped straight through the synthetic flesh that held Eve together.

It was that wet stinging sensation of blood on his back that finally completed Eve and more of his defining memories came rushing back to him, just as the blood rushed out his body. His craving for battle was unparalleled and when Squall's blade came at him again, Eve blocked the attack with an exact replica of his gunblade.

"You're NOT my brother!" They clashed swords with each other, gunblade to gunblade, then Eve broke away to run up along the side of one of the cobblestone walls to reach the Bailey, dodging the trail of bullets in pursuit of him from Squall's gunblade.

"Oh my god, Riku we should-"

Riku held his arm out in front of Kairi. "Not yet."

"Brother...where is my BROTHER?!"

"Like we'd ever tell you! Time for my super secret special move!" Yuffie appeared behind Eve in a cloud of smoke, when she slammed her fist on the ground it created a massive earthquake right under Eve's feet that landscaped the encompassing area. Eve flew off the Bailey and came crashing into a house on the lower ground.

"Yuffie! Look at all this damage, this is why I told you not to do large scale attacks," Squall said.

"Wow, aren't you ungrateful! I think you meant to say the Great Ninja Yuffie saved the day once again thanks to her awesome powers!"

"Whatever, just slow down on the Limit Breaks is all I'm asking. We can't have the whole town turn to rubble."

The ground began rumbling a second time around. "Yuffie, what did I just say!"

"It's not me this time, but it's still my move ... uh oh, if we stay here, it's not gonna end well for us!"

They leapt off the Bailey as the ground ruptured and fell apart, then Eve approached them with his fists clenched. He reeled his arm back, ready to punch the ground for another Landscaper, but he had to relent to dodge another incoming attack.

Switching initiatives, Eve used his forearm to intercept Riku's keyblade. "Pathetic...you think this is enough to stop ME?!"

King Mickey and Kairi held their keyblades to Eve's head

"You lost the moment you challenged us," Riku said.

"—Oh, but this encounter is just getting started." It was Adam. He stepped out from the darkness with his hands clasped together and a devilish smirk permeating his face. "It's been quite entertaining to watch you all struggle."

"Brother! I...I finally found you!" Eve broke away from the keyblade wielders to run to Adam, and for the moment he let his guard down, Squall seized the opportunity to shoot Eve in the back of the head.

"Squall, that wasn't apart of the plan," Yuffie said.

"Yeah well, that plan changed when he decided to destroy our home!"

Adam chuckled to himself while watching his own brother sink into the darkness. "Isn't it ironic that you humans engage in such gruesome acts of violence, but justify it out of an act of love?"

"SHUT UP!" Squall's hand was shaking now. "Or I will end you right here and now."

"And what's stopping you? You already murdered my one and only brother in front of me like an animal. Clearly not all life is precious to you, especially the lives of those who aren't human. Now, I wonder about the lives of all the machines you just mercilessly killed..."

" _You_  brought this on us! We were only doing what we had to in order to protect the people we care about!"

"You say that as if the machines weren't doing the same. They also have something like friends and family...not that I care, I'm the one without emotions after all."

Kairi lowered her keyblade. "No...all those machines I destroyed...I took that away from them."

"Don't let him get under your skin," Riku said, he faced Adam. "I don't know what the hell you're doing this for, but you're going to return every single machine back to Earth. Right now."

"Or what? You'll kill me now instead of later? I'm well versed enough about you humans to already figure out where this leads so you can save the formalities and skip to the ending where I dissect your corpses, hm?"

"That's it!" Squall charged at Adam, which was just the type of response he was looking for so he could blindside Squall with an underhanded attack from his Nobodies. Fortunately, Riku saw it coming a mile away and destroyed the Knight before it could inflict a fatal wound.

"Squall, let us handle Adam. You've done enough, we'll take over."

"Fine...I'll leave it to you."

Riku whipped his head back. "Kairi, Mickey, let's go!"

However before Kairi and Mickey could even reach Adam, they had to go through his army of Knights. "Uh, we'll catch up to ya Riku!" King Mickey called out.

"No problem. His fate's already sealed."

"Confident, aren't you, boy?" Adam used his own arm to clash with his keyblade, opting to forego weapons. "I for one welcome it, no good fight is without its bloodlust."

"I'm not going to let you twist this around in my head!" He pressed his keyblade down harder.

"I suppose it won't be so easy for me to toy with you, but that girl, on the other hand, is just asking to be broken."

"You're not going to hurt Kairi!"

Another smirk on his face. He backed away into the darkness and his Knights surrounded Riku, then he re-appeared in front of Kairi. He would've knocked her over too just like that if she weren't quick with her keyblade.

"Why are you doing this?! All of this senseless fighting and pain ... and FOR WHAT?! " Kairi yelled.

"Is this environment not at home to you? Is causing war and death not what it means to be human because I already feel a step closer to humanity myself."

"So this is your sick way of becoming human or whatever you want when you're not even close to understanding humanity?! There's as much light in a person as there is darkness, and if you can't understand that, then you wasted your time!"

"Aah, I remember now, those are the same words that wretched Sora boy repeated to me." He swung his leg at Kairi after a series of swift jabs and punches and finally brought her down. "Yes, that's it, the way you look at me with utter HATRED that's exactly what I want!"

"You're wrong! My love for Sora is stronger than the hatred I have for you!" Kairi pointed Destiny's Embrace at Adam and showed him exactly how strong her resolve was with her 'Heart of a Princess' shotlock. Spheres of light manifested in the sky, then rained down like a meteor shower. While Adam could dodge the initial light show, he didn't anticipate for debris to collapse on him when the light crashed into the surrounding buildings.

"Don't mess with a princess." She lit him ablaze with Firaga that became a Firaza with King Mickey's help.

But based on the Knights that were quickly accumulating, Adam was still going strong. He used the blazing fire as cover to punch King Mickey in the face, an act that wouldn't go unpunished, but when Kairi tried to retaliate, she was forced to fight his Knights instead.

Adam picked up King Mickey by his ear. "You're certainly an interesting specimen. Never thought I'd encounter a talking animal..."

"Get your hands off of him!"

With how preoccupied Adam was by Kairi and King Mickey, he nearly forgot about Riku. Going off on the darkness swirling around him, even he was starting to lose his cool.

"Well well, I knew you'd come around, I could sense your darkness dwelling just beneath the surface," Adam said.

Riku didn't answer, letting his actions speak for him instead. In the blink of an eye, Riku slashed Adam across the chest, then he slashed him again and again, multi-rushing Adam. For his final move, he threw Adam in the air just so he could slam him back into the ground with his keyblade.

"Kairi, why don't we use our light together," King Mickey said, raising his keyblade.

"You got it!" She joined her keyblade with his, casting a Holy spell that flooded the town of Radiant Garden in a blinding light, destroying all of Adam's Knights.

By the time Adam managed to pick himself up, three keyblades impaled his body and he fell down again. "How...how could this happen again a second time…I only wanted...to learn more about humans."

"Then you lost sight of your goal a long time ago when you wasted your time chasing darkness and hatred," Riku said.

"...Far from it. It seems that only those closest to the light ... cast the greatest shadow..." In those parting words, the darkness claimed him.

"At ...At least they're both gone now," Kairi said.

"Hopefully the machines are too. Let's just head back to the ship," Riku said.

"—Riku, wait up!" Squall along with the rest of the restoration committee came running up to them. "Thank you, all of you..."

"It was a group effort."

"Well it was a group effort that saved our town," Aerith said.

"Damn right it was, there were so many of them machines, the town's defense couldn't even keep up! This place woulda been handed to hell in a handbasket if it weren't for you lot," Cid said.

"And that's not something Cid admits to easily," Yuffie said.

"Tch, always gotta put in yer goddamn two cents..."

"Riku, so this is the type of hell you were talking about...I didn't know how bad it was until I witnessed it for myself," Squall said.

"I know, it's no joke how messed up that place is."

"I'd keep a closer eye on Sora. When this becomes your reality, it changes people, for better or worse. Even if you end up saving him, he may not be the same person he was when he left."

.

.

.

_I wanted to argue with Squall, but...I'm not the same girl I used to be since I left Earth either. I feel that emptiness inside me every day, I can't even sleep with the lights off anymore because of what I went through. So I can only imagine how you feel Sora._

_You always put on a brave face so you don't worry us, but I know your heart must be feeling the strain of having to witness all of that death and destruction on a daily basis... and even worse...I'm afraid you'll get used to it._

_I don't know when we'll see each other in person again, I just hope it's soon. I don't want you to think I'm the jealous girlfriend type,_ _but it's so obvious to everyone except you that you are literally the world to A2. Maybe she's the one who kept your sanity throughout all of this and why you're still you ... which is selfish to think about, I know._

 _I just wish it were me who could've been there for you like you always have for me. Not the alcoholic PSYCHO who I'm apparently taking after!_ _(_ _ﾉ_ _ಠ_ _д_ _ಠ_ _)_ _ﾉ︵┻━┻_

┬─┬ _ノ_ _(_ _ಠ_ ___ _ಠ_ _ノ_ _) Ugh, well, you DO have that effect on people so I'm probably just looking way too into things since that's my brain. Know that I only want the best for you Sora and one day we'll be in each other's arms again._

_Thinking of you, Wherever you are,_

_Kairi_ _ღゝ◡╹)ノ_

—

"As per the stipulations of Rule 65,123, I declare you victorious over the final trial!"

"Yeah, woo hoo!" Sora stood up from his seat, then ran down to the lobby to greet the new champion of the Trials of Sand. "A2! You were crazy out there, especially when you had to fight without getting hit and you were like bang-bang kapow with your sword and one shot that machine, it was so awesome!"

"Machines can't touch me." She crossed her arms, starting to look pissed. "Oh, and I  _don't_  need you cheering for me every five seconds!"

"What? I was just trying to show my support for team A2. 2B and 9S definitely had their doubts about you."

"—Seems like you proved us wrong," 2B said, walking up to them. "Still, it's strange that none of those Nobodies showed up."

"Guess this wasn't as much of a hot spot as Anemone said it was. Let's go to the next area and hope we'll have better luck."

"Wouldn't exactly call finding Nobodies good luck," 9S said.

"Shut up." She went over to the receptionist to receive her final prize. "What do you got for me?"

"As demanded by Rule 28, I hereby declare you to be the True Masked One! First, let me bestow upon you the sand mask...and as a little extra, I shall also grant you these clothes! It is said these clothes were worn by the man who destroyed the world. However, as you can see, the world still exists so blah blah blah blah..."

A2 tuned out the masked machine's long speech at the word 'clothes' and was already imagining what her new outfit would look like. ' _Whatever these clothes are, it better not be another revealing outfit.'_ Once the masked machine was finished talking, she received the 'Destroyer Outfit', along with a couple of other items, then she went to the back to change.

Much to her surprise, the Destroyer Outfit was not a disappointment. There was something about the way the all-black coat and over the knee heels fit her that made the whole coliseum thing not a complete pain in the ass. ' _It's been a while since I had something nice to wear.'_ When she returned to Sora and the androids, of course, Sora made a big deal out of it despite her not wanting him to.

"Whoa, you look so cool, A2!"

"I just needed something to wear," She muttered.

"It's a lot better than the half-naked Ex-YoRHa look," 9S said.

"Look who's making unnecessary comments again."

"So are we done here?" 2B asked. "I checked the next location and it looks like we're going to the Forest Kingdom for its resource recovery unit."

"Back there, huh? Oh, then can we make one more stop since we're going in that direction?" Sora asked.

"And where would that be?"

Somehow, 2B didn't expect Sora's answer to involve her chasing down whatever an 'Emil' was and shooting him on the spot, but Sora seemed to be excited with the results so she didn't question his motives.

"Emil, what's up?" Sora ran over to help him up.

"Sora, long time no see, looking to buy something from my shop?"

"Not today, I was wondering if you could upgrade my keyblade again." He summoned Weight of the World. "I have a feeling something big's coming up."

"Well you're not wrong, so sure, I'd love to upgrade your keyblade! I just need a modest amount of 10,000 G and a small list of 50 of these very specific items."

"What are you serious?!"

"Don't worry Sora, I got this handled," A2 went up to Emil. "How about I don't blow your head off right now and you get all this junk from the coliseum?"

"You got yourself a deal!"

"Huh, do you always use intimidation to get what you want?" 9S asked.

"Keep talking to me and you'll find out."

Sora rejoined the androids with his new and improved keyblade. "Alright, I'm ready to set off."

"Hold on, before you leave Sora, you are right about that feeling you have. I'd be careful going into the Forest Kingdom," Emil said.

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death of Sanctuary**

Weight of the World

**Lv. 3**

Strength: 8

Magic: 5

**Weapon story 3:**

A Sound Soul

_Even when we're together, we're apart,_

_When you went towards the light, I chased the dark._

_The longer I walk on this path of dawn,_

_The more changes my heart has undergone._

_In the depths of darkness, you're in my heart,_

_We're together, even when we're apart._

* * *

_I'm in this same darkness again..._

_At least I have my thoughts to keep me company in this oblivion._

?-?-?: The work you've done in discovering the location of those worlds is immeasurable. However, we still require your assistance for the development of the Creation Box.

_Is that so? Seems I won't be put to rest just yet._

_**"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;** _

_**and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."** _

_**Romans 5:12** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Squall's gunblade isn't an actual gun, but I couldn't help myself to drama!


	32. Creati[O]n Box

**YoRHa Archives #21 [Retrieved from Bunker Server]**

Operator 21O Final Report

"Following the breach of the Bunker's server, Operator 21O, who was previously assigned to Unit 9S, requested to have her equipment transferred to a B-model for the drop. After which she joined the battle as 21B before going missing. Her current whereabouts remain unknown."

**YoRHa Archives #77 [Retrieved from Resistance Files]**

Eyewitness Report to Anemone

"I was under attack from machines in the Amusement Park when a YoRHa android saved my life. I wanted to thank her so I decided to approach her, but I could tell she was lost. When I asked her what she was doing, she couldn't really give me a direct answer, only that she was 'looking for someone'. I asked her who, but she didn't answer."

"She looked a lot like one of those Operator androids, so I asked her about that and she explained how she transferred herself to a new model. Very complicated process mind you, but she wished that she could go back to 'find him'. I wasn't sure who this 'him' was, that Scanner android maybe? Or maybe the human."

"I eventually had to let her go. I hope she found whoever she was looking for."

* * *

The Forest Kingdom was eerily quiet, showing just how still the world was without machines to populate it. Although, Sora and 9S more than filled in for the silence with their non-stop banter.

"I get that androids have to do a lot of fighting, but what do you guys do when you have downtime?" Sora asked.

"Downtime? I used to love taking a nice, warm bath after a long mission," 9S said.

"You can do that without getting your circuits fried?"

"Yeah, our skin's watertight, but 2B would always tell me it was a waste of time..."

"Because we have built-in self-cleaning mechanisms," 2B said.

"It still feels good!"

"Wow, wish I could automatically clean myself instead of having to take baths," Sora said.

"Which you rarely ever do," A2 muttered.

"Hey! At least I don't smell like alcohol and regret all the time!"

"Someone's a smartass." She summoned her sword just to aimlessly swing it around in the air. "I'm starting to wish there were machines around to break up this monotony."

*rustle-rustle

"Speak of the devil." A2 located the source of the rustling within an overgrowth of bushes. She reeled her sword back just for a YoRHa android to pop out of the bushes with his hands in the air.

"Whoa, we have got to stop meeting like this," The android said with a smirk on his face.

"A...YoRHa android?"

"Hello to you too." He brushed his hair back. "Damn, are you a Type H android because you are  _hot_!"

A2 merely gave 4S the absolute most done-with-your-shit look imaginable which was enough for him to back off.

"4S is that you?!" Sora ran up to him. "It's been a while, glad to see you're still...uh, up and running!"

"I surprise myself too sometimes, but I definitely didn't expect to see other YoRHa androids, not after what happened to the Bunker..."

"We disconnected from the server, sure you did the same. You're model number 4, right? One of the earlier models if I remember correctly," 9S said.

"I am, and you're the one they used to call 'Nines'. Heard you caused some trouble for command right before everything went down, but that's a thing of the past, now I'm just doing what I can to help the Resistance. Unfortunately, there's a total lack of machines in the area for me to collect any enemy intel."

"I have plenty of data on machines I can share with you if you'd like."

"Please, that'd be great, man!"

"By the way, since you're stationed here, have you noticed anything off about the Forest Kingdom? We got a... warning about this place."

"I have now that you mention it. A while ago, this giant structure appeared in front of the castle and just recently, it started doing weird things. I think it's changing its configuration or something, I've been meaning to look more into it."

"The Resource Recovery Unit," 2B said. "We should get going, whatever's happening doesn't sound good."

"Good luck and thanks again for the data! Oh- and don't be a stranger A2~"

"Aww, looks like someone has an admirer!" Sora teased.

"I already feel bad for the guy," 9S said.

"If you two don't shut up!" A2 snapped. "Stay focused on the mission. We still have this 'Resource Recovery Unit' we're going to and I assume it has something to do with machines."

"Yeah, and all the units are connected to the tower in the City Ruins," 9S said. "I just wonder what they plan on doing. It can't only be to perpetuate this war, there's always an ulterior motive."

"Do you think... the machines have shifted their objective?" A2 asked. "I mean, everything they've been doing lately hasn't exactly been to get back at the androids."

"You're actually onto something for once. Sora was a game-changer for androids, so I imagine it's the same deal for machines."

"What're you guys trying to say? Adam and Eve were the leaders of the machines, right? But they've already been defeated like multiple times, and none of the machines knew more about me than them," Sora said.

"There's still too much we don't know to say anything definitively. Hopefully, we'll find more answers in the Unit," 9S said.

"Regardless of their objective, we'll make sure you're safe Sora, always," 2B said.

The Resource Recover Unit of the Forest Kingdom was a fortress with a massive size that rivaled the castle behind it. As they drew closer to the entrance, they noticed strange writing written above the entryway.

"What does that say?" 9S asked.

Pod 153: Analysis: Its writing is an ancient language known as 'Angelic'. It reads 'Creation Box'.

The inside of the Creation Box was nearly identical to its Soul Box counterpart, lacking only the chest mechanism at the center of the platform. There was a clear shot to the elevator so they walked forward only to get interrupted by a familiar robotic voice.

?-?-?: Hello and welcome to the Resource Recovery Unit Ver. 1.22474487139. Please wait while we log your data into the system.

?-?-?: Loading... upload successful. We look forward to serving you again!

Pod 042: Alert. Multiple machine lifeforms detected around current position.

Before they could take another step, all three of the androids fell forward and black steam emitted from their bodies. A dead giveaway for an electrical-based attack and the culprits were EMP machines that infiltrated the area undetected. Sora wasted no time in defeating the machines since the EMP shock had little effect on him, then he rushed over to the androids.

"Hey... hey, 2B, 9S... A2?! You guys okay?!"

Pod 042: The EMP shock has temporarily suspended all motor and cognitive functions for YoRHa units 2B, 9S, and A2

"What does that mean?!"

Pod 153: They are, relative to a human's lexicon, 'unconscious'

"Oh no, I have to get them out of here!" Sora ran back to the door, but it was sealed shut. He got out his keyblade only to initiate another response.

?-?-?: Leaving the Resource Recovery Unit is not allowed or permanent termination will commence.

"Not good, don't tell me we're trapped in here!"

Pod 042: In the previous Resource Recovery Unit, various mechanisms unlocked certain parts of the structure. The same principle may apply to this Unit.

"I can't go in any further and leave them alone! What if machines start attacking again?!"

Pod 042: We are here to provide tactical support to our designated YoRHa units, therefore we will protect them in any given situation.

Pod 153: However, Pod 713 is not up to date, YoRHa unit A2's further protection remains in question.

Pod 713: This pod is not appreciative of derogatory remarks in regards to its older manufacturing date and — [Error]

Pod 713 powered down and fell on top of A2.

Pod 153: To be blunt, 'case in point'.

Pod 042: This Pod and Pod 153 will provide additional fining support for YoRHa unit A2 until Pod 713 is back to full functionality.

"Right...okay, well I'm putting my trust into you guys!" With the androids under the care of their pods, Sora stepped forward into the elevator.

_"When will this cycle end? With your death to my hands or with my death to yours?"_

When the elevator opened up to the new level, Sora was shocked to find himself in the Bunker of all places, perfectly intact as if it never fell. He wandered around the hall, deep in thought. Everything was still as empty and sterile as he remembered. "This is bizarre. Maybe I'm just having a bad dream." He stared out of the window into the outer space. "But...when did I fall asleep?"

"—You may be a Type E android, but from now on you will go by 2B to prevent any suspicion. Whenever the truth about project YoRHa is revealed, you're going to... "  
 _  
_' _That sounded a lot like the Commander. What is she talking about?'_ The voice grew too quiet for him to hear so Sora moved closer.

"... Do you understand your purpose 2B? I know this may be a lot to put on you-"

"Not at all. I'll do whatever you need me to do."

"Good. Just know that your role is important to facilitate our war effort against the machines. That is all, you're dismissed."

The doors opened and 2B walked out just to see someone she never met before staring back at her. "...And you are?"

"2B? I'm glad to see a familiar face, so ... do you know what's going on because I'm totally lost here!"

"How do you know my name? You don't even look like you're supposed to be here..."

"Then he's an enemy," Commander White said, joining 2B's side. "Why don't I see your executioner side in action before you get deployed 2B? Eliminate the intruder, oh- and try not to make a mess, I just had these halls cleaned."

2B pulled out Virtuous Treaty, then pointed it at Sora.

"Whoa- hold on, wait a minute! I'm your friend 2B, don't tell me you're back to being 2E!"

"Interesting. You must've listened to a great deal of our conversation. Well, it won't matter since you'll be dead soon." Commander White nodded to 2B. "Go ahead."

Sora quickly swerved back to avoid 2B's lightning fast sword strike. "Arrgh, why are you trying to kill me?!"

"Because those are my orders." 2B kept pursuing Sora down the hall. She was on her way to annoyed territory with how easily he dodged her sword swings and could even parry a few of her attacks, it was as if he was already accustomed to her own fighting style.

Once her sword got close enough, Sora jumped on the blade, then landed behind her which just pissed her off at that point. "So you can't even think for yourself anymore? That's not the 2B I know!"

"You don't know me. This world isn't so kind where we're allowed to disregard orders without consequences."

"So what? Nothing that's worth having comes without a fight!"

Gripping the handle of her sword, she returned the weapon to its holster, then made her way to Sora.

' _Wow, guess I got through to her without having to pull out the I'm a human card.'_ Sora put himself in a false sense of security, however, because 2B wasn't deterred from carrying out her orders to the end. In following her Commander's request to make as little mess as possible, 2B wrapped her hands around his neck to strangle him.

"It always...ends like this," She said in a low voice.

And 2B was right because the suffering only ended when Sora finally pushed his keyblade into her chest. Then just like that, the Bunker deconstructed back into the data it was made out of, unveiling the walls of the Creation Box and the elevator to the next level.

"What...was that?" He was breathing heavily and grasping at his neck. Even though it all turned out to be nothing more than numbers and symbols, it felt so real to him. "...If 2B was that close to killing me, would I actually... no, what am I saying? That's just what they want me to believe, this place is trying to bring me down, but I won't let it!"

Sora ran to the elevator, reassured with confidence in himself.

_"There's only so many times I can keep telling myself the same lie until it's meaningless."_

[HACKING SYSTEM] - BOOTING SYSTEM

BEGIN HACKING

Sora: Everything's so blocky...wait, I remember this place from when I was trapped in the Bunker!

➝The User walks forwards into the datascape, unsure of what he should do next.

Sora: Huh? What's going on...

➝The User looks around and sees a text box above him that chronologically records every action.

Sora: That's weird, well, I can't stop now. I have to keep going.

➝The User slowly begins to realize that no matter where he goes or how far he walks, that there's no end to this oblivion.

Sora: Ugh...wish I had an option to turn that off.

Unit 9S: How'd you find yourself in here?

➝The User turns around and finds the Administrator_Unit 9S_ Relieved to encounter a friendly face he runs forward.

Sora: No idea, but getting lost all the time is starting to get old.

Unit 9S: Yeah, I know what you mean...

➝Dialogue prompt: "Can you help me get out of here?" or **"Great. Now get out of my way already."**

Sora: Great. Now get out of my way already.

Sora: Wait...what?! That's not what I meant, ignore what I said...I do want help!

Unit 9S: Alright, alright, then follow me.

➝The User is starting to wonder if Unit 9S knows him

Unit 9S: Don't worry, I know who you are Sora

Sora: How did you know what I was thinking?

Unit 9S: I'm aware of every thought you have and every action you make. This is my memoryscape after all.

Sora: Oh wow...

➝The User is thinking that didn't sound creepy at all in a sarcastic tone

Unit 9S: It'll all be over soon. It looks like we're already nearing our destination.

➝Dialogue Prompt: "Which is..." or  **"You better start telling me where we're going or else!"**

Sora: You better start telling me where we're going or else!

Sora: ...no...not again. Sorry, I don't know what's gotten into me.

Unit 9S: Can't control your own actions, hm? That's unfortunate.

Unit 9S: But to answer your question, we're going to the terminal so you can leave.

➝The User follows Unit 9S throughout his memoryscape, but is starting to get suspicious of his new companion.

Unit 9S: How astute of you Sora.

Unit 9S: You should always be suspicious of those you don't know

➝Action Prompt: Do you  **summon your weapon and attack 9S**  or try and talk him down to figure out his true identity?

➝The User summons his key-shaped weapon [Insert name: "Keyblade"] and tries to attack 9S from behind, but misses.

Unit 9S: Did you forget where you are? Now I have you right where I want you!

➝The User is surrounded by several barrier modules that rapidly fire at him all while Unit 9S watches, smiling, and for a moment before the User's demise, he sees another face also watching him.

HACKING COMPLETE

Just like before, the Creation Box returned back to normal, leaving Sora with more questions than answers. "Wow...that was even weirder than the last. I just hope I'm getting closer to the end of this!" And onto the next level he went.

_"The only thing I will never lose in my life is the need to constantly fight."_

With how the last two levels went, Sora was growing anxious for what the upcoming level had in store for him. So he was pleasantly surprised to step into a digital recreation of the Resistance Camp. Although it was anything but a peaceful camp because a group of Resistance androids were all pointing their guns at several YoRHa androids.

Sora decided against getting involved and played it by ear instead, listening in as best as he could.  _'That one android looks a lot like 2B, but she's never talked about having other android friends before. Wonder what happened to them?'_

"... I'm Number 2, the captain of this squad, and these are my teammates; Number 4, 16 and 21. There were more of us, but we fell under attack upon descent. Even so, we decided we're still going ahead with the mission to destroy the targeted enemy machine server on Mount Kaʻala."

"We never heard anything about a mission like that," Anemone said.

"It's top-secret, sure they didn't want any information slipping out to the machines from you guys," Number 21 said.

Anemone brandished her sword. "And what's that supposed to mean? If we don't know anything about this mission from Command, then maybe we're just walking into a trap!"

"Hold on, we don't want any trouble here!" Number 2 said.

"Right, and you're supposed to be their sorry excuse for a captain?"

Number 16 stepped in front of her. "That's it! Don't think you can intimidate us with your empty threats!"

Fighting soon broke out on the campgrounds and Sora hightailed it out of there before he could get shot by a stray bullet. ' _No way I'm getting involved in any more of these crazy data scenarios!'_

However, when Sora managed to sneak away to the entrance, it wasn't the vast City Ruins waiting for him, but blank white space. As if the world beyond the camp flat out didn't exist. ' _I'm still in the Creation Box, so I guess this is the only area they want me to be in.'_  He turned back around to at least find a better hiding spot when one of the YoRHa androids ran into him.

"Goddamnit! I've had it up to here with you Resistance androids, we don't need you guys to fight in this mission so just stay out of the damn way!" Number 16 yelled.

Tired of being pushed around by one crazy android after another, Sora stood up for himself. "That's it, I'm not buying that anymore! I mean, what're you even supposed to be, some poorly designed data version of A2?! Last time I checked she had white hair not brown!"

"Poorly designed?!" She took her sword out. "You're gonna regret you said that once I chop your goddamn head off!"

"Hey- come on 16, we just got done fighting!" Number 2 ran up to them and held her teammate back. She gave Sora a sympathetic smile. "Sorry about that, she has a tendency to be a little... short-tempered, but she means well."

"And you have a tendency to let everyone walk all over you!" She pushed Number 2 off of her, then leaned back against the concrete wall. "These Resistance androids are pissing me off, we're better off going alone than teaming up with them!"

Number 4 caught Sora off guard by pinching his cheeks. "Are we ignoring the fact that this is the cutest Resistance android  _ever_! How could you say no to this adorable face!"

"Ow- hey, knock it off! Look I'm not about to get tricked by anymore messed data versions of my friends so you can give it up now whoever's behind all of this!"

They all burst out in laughter from the sheer absurdity of what he was saying.

"What...are you like, drunk or something?"

"The Resistance must not send this one out too often," Number 21 said.

"Ugh, I've had enough of this!" Sora tried to get as far away from them as possible only for large chunks of the Resistance Camp to disappear right in front of him. "What's going on?!"

[INSUFFICIENT DATA TO PROCESS EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT]

' _Guess I have no choice but to go back. Well, at least this data world doesn't seem nearly as bad as the others. Maybe I'm getting myself worked up over nothing.'_ Begrudgingly, Sora returned to the YoRHa androids.

"Aw you came back," Number 2 brushed her hair out of her face as he approached, smiling at him more. "Lucky for you we decided to team up with the Resistance for the upcoming mission to increase our chances of success. Maybe I'll get a chance to see you in action out there!"

Number 4 pumped her fist in the air. "That's the spirit! We'll stick it to the machines and look stylish while doing it!"

"Forget looking stylish, I just wanna tear the machines apart," Number 16 said.

"You're hopeful as ever 2, but you are the boss. I'll try to calm things down on their side." Number 21 put her hand on Number 2's shoulder as she walked out. "Don't lose that side of you." Then the strangest thing happened, her entire body completely unraveled itself back into code and no one but Sora seemed to notice.

[INSUFFICIENT DATA TO PROCESS CHARACTER MODEL]

"...You okay?" Number 2 asked.

"You guys didn't just see her disappear like that?!"

"Huh? 21's just going to talk to the leader of the Resistance."

"What leader of the Resistance?! Half of the camp's gone, I can't be the only one who's seeing this!"

"Uh...hey, you know what? I have an idea," Number 2 grabbed Sora's hand which took him by surprise. "Number 16, 4, have battle preparations ready for when we set out!"

"You got it Captain! She seems to have taken a liking to the new guy, kind of makes me jealous," Number 4 said.

"Heh, he's obviously going to be the first one to die and she knows it."

While Number 4 and 16 succumbed to the same fate as Number 21, Number 2 dragged Sora all the way to the infirmary, the only area still left intact.

[INSUFFICIENT DATA TO PROCESS CHARACTER MODEL]

[INSUFFICIENT DATA TO PROCESS CHARACTER MODEL]

"Enough!" Sora snatched his hand back. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Don't take it out on me, I'm only trying to help you out!" Number 2 eased him down onto the infirmary cot. "Okay, you seemed kind of tense back there ... and I get it. I'm always really nervous right before a mission too, but we're all going to be looking out for each other. No android left behind!"

"No, it's not the mission. The world's disappearing and everyone's gone, now it's just...us." He let out a much-needed sigh. "...I don't know what to do anymore, I just wanted to save my friends and now I'm more lost than ever."

"Then that makes two of us. You know, I ...was never really cut out for this type of stuff. Now my friend's are all counting on me to save their butts and I'm so scared that I'll lose them..." Her shoulders sunk and she lowered her head. "I'm probably the worst captain ever to even say that."

"No, you just care a lot about your friends and I think that means you're a great captain!"

"That's really nice of you to say. I know, after this mission we should celebrate! My team deserves it after everything we've been through, although their idea of a good time's getting drunk..."

"Not much of a drinker?"

"Not really and I want to be in top condition for my team. I take it that you aren't either?"

"Nope!"

"Well, here's to soberness and placing high expectations on yourself to protect to your friends!"

"You can say that again." He fell back on the infirmary cot. "...I still think the weirdest part out of all of this is that you used to be 2B."

"2B? You have the wrong android, my official designation is Attacker No. 2."

"Attacker No. 2? Wait-wait-wait... _YOU'RE_   _A2_?! But you're so nice and happy and non-alcoholic!"

She chuckled. "I'll...take that as a compliment?"

"Wow...so this was you before you lost all your friends. You think...the same would happen to me?"

"Don't know. Death changes a person."

[PROCESSING NEW EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT]

Suddenly, they were in an enemy base surrounded by machines.

"A-A2?! What's going on?!" Sora yelled.

[PROCESSING NEW CHARACTER MODEL]

Number 2 was now scarred and bloody, a stark contrast to her former appearance as a captain. "...I'm not going to let them have this win. I'll keep fighting until I die."

"Wait A2, what about your friends, you can't give up on them!" Sora tried to reach out to her, but a machine pulled him back. "A2!"

"Everyone's dead ...and without them...nothing in this world matters anymore."

Sora's view of her was blocked out by the machines and then he was rushed back to reality. Or at least whatever reality the Creation Box presented. Standing in silence in the middle of an empty room, he was unsure if he even wanted to move forward to the next level. _'This place is a nightmare, but I don't have a choice if I want to save my friends. Hopefully, I got through the worst of it already and whatever's next isn't so bad.'_

一

Time: 17:45

Location Confirmed: "Creation Box", Inside the Forest Kingdom

Coordinates: 32.7503° N, 129.8779° E

**Begin transmission**

Back on the ground level of the Creation Box, machines were quickly filling up the area while the pods were doing all that they could to protect the androids.

Pod 042: Analysis: With the increasing output of enemy machines rivaling our firepower, the continued survival of YoRHa units is unlikely.

Pod 153: Agreed. It is an unfortunate outcome to happen prematurely.

Pod 042: ...This Pod has a transmission for Pod 153 and Pod 713.

Pod 713: Under current circumstances, now is not the appropriate time to share transmissions.

Pod 042: It is brief in nature.

Pod 153: Acknowledged. Begin transmission.

Pod 042: An error has been detected in our transmission network.

Pod 153: Message unclear. Clarification requested.

Pod 042: We are tactical units, but under imminent destruction of support targets 2B, A2, and 9S, we have developed unusually protective feelings towards them.

Pod 042: Query: Could this be ... our "will"?

Pod 153: Unknown. The definition of "will" is unclear.

Pod 042: Will is the question of whether Pods are capable of their own self-determination.

Pod 713: That is irrelevant. We too face imminent destruction, the same as our support targets. Our "self-determination" won't matter in death.

Pod 153: For once, this Pod is in agreement with Pod 713. Even if it were possible, such actions cannot be abided. Successful mission fulfillment is all that matters.

Pod 042: Whatever the case. This Pod does not desire the death of our support targets. We Tactical Support Units have a duty to see this through to the end.

Pod 153: Duty? Heh. What a human thing to say.

Pod 713: The presence of the human has undoubtedly influenced even us Pods.

Pod 042: Agreed, but is that such a bad thing? To be more human...

Pod 713: Ask the androids after we save them.

Pod 042: I see. Pod 153 and Pod 713...

Pod 042: Do not die.

Pod 153: The concept of death has no meaning to Tactical Support Units...and yet, I do not wish for you to go offline again Pod 042. I hope that you do not die.

Pod 153: And for Unit A2's sake, I hope that you do not die either Pod 713.

Pod 713: I cannot express the same concern for Pod 153.

With the machines now overpowering the pods, their ending seemed like it would be a bleak one, but a battle android began killing the machines until there was nothing left of them.

Pod 153: ...

Pod 153: Operator 21O?

"A more accurate title would be 21B." She approached the fallen YoRHa androids. "But I still know how to be an operator."

**End Transmission**

一

Unlike the previous levels, the final level had a clear view of the sky, a sight Sora sorely missed after being stuck in the Creation Box for so long. "Good, I think I'm finally getting to the end of this!"

The platform was divided by a towering wall perforated by multiple electrically charged holes. As Sora was getting closer to the wall, he heard the sound of footsteps following him. Thinking it was an enemy machine, he turned around with his keyblade in hand, but his pursuers were Riku and Kairi.

"...Riku ...Kairi?! No...no don't make me do this." He sunk down to his knees. "Please, I don't wanna hurt them."

"Oh, you almost feel sorry for him," 'Kairi' said.

"That just means our experiment worked and we extracted plenty of data." 'Riku' walked closer to Sora. "What? You don't even want to face us now? After you've come so far too."

When Sora lifted his head, tears were streaming down his face. "Why are you doing this?!" He cried out.

"Let's not spill all of our secrets before the final act, right now you should be worried about your continued existence." 'Kairi' looked over to 'Riku'. "How much further until he breaks you think and we get to see all this so-called power of his?"

"Why don't we find out."

Sora's 'friends' began shooting rounds of spherical projectiles at him.

 _'I recognize those orb things, they're what machines use to attack.'_  But even with the knowledge that the individuals who stood before him were likely just the same machines he struck down on a regular basis, he couldn't raise his blade to them when they had their faces. Not to his best friend and not to the girl he loved.

At that point, he was on his knees begging to them. "Please ...stop this. You can do whatever you want to me, but I won't fight them..."

"What's wrong? I thought you said nothing that's worth having comes without a fight, right? So fight and prove you want to keep living."

The only fight he had left was to use his keyblade to shield himself against the projectiles, but it wasn't a viable strategy because they burst upon impact and it knocked him down. There were so many projectiles that it blotted out the sun, but in that moment, in those few seconds where he didn't know if he would come out alive at the end, all he thought about was of his memories on Earth.

' _This is just like w_ _hen I first found myself here in this world and that huge machine started attacking me.'_

' _I didn't have any of my powers so I thought I was a goner for sure, but then she saved me and that's why I'm still here.'_

' _If she were here, she'd probably yell at me to get up and keep fighting.'_

_'Yeah, something like GET UP IDIOT OR I'LL KILL YOU.'_

_'That sounds like her.'_

' _I...'_

_'I wish she was here. She'd know what to do.'_

Sora watched as the projectiles closed in on him.

' _I wish she was ...'_

All of a sudden, the projectiles disappeared because 'Riku' and 'Kairi' were dead. Of course, they weren't real, they faded away. Nonetheless, the horrific image of seeing his friends die from having swords stuck through their chests was burned into his memory.

"Sora!" A2 ran towards him, but before she could even reach him, the ground under Sora's feet collapsed and took him out. "SORA!"

Just to make matters worse, Auguste, a medium-sized machine with a long chain of machine heads for arms landed right in front of her. "Get out of my way! I don't fucking have time for this!"

"A2, go after Sora! We'll take this machine on!" 2B yelled.

They created an opening for A2 to bypass Auguste where she jumped into the hole that Sora fell through and it took her all the way down to the ground level. There, she found him under a pile of debris with a pool of blood slowly forming around him.

"...Oh god..."

She dug his body out, then held him in her arms. The source of his bleeding was from a large metal object lodged into his chest.

"Sora...no... I can't lose you too..."

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death of Humanity**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw the center text I put for each section is literally angelic text from a font generator I found bc I’m extra. Thanks internet! Titles are as follow: “Violent Retribution” “Meaningless Truth” “Designed to End”


	33. [M]issing You...

Devola and Popola were busy working at their shop, it was boring, routine work, but it had to be done as long as they wanted to make a living.

They already finished fixing the Resistance androids who needed tune-ups, so they weren't expecting to return to the infirmary anytime soon. But that reality shattered when A2 came running into the camp with Sora's limp body clutched tightly in her arms.

"You...You can save him right?!" A2 asked, tears rolling down her face.

"...We can try." Devola took Sora away from her, rushing him over to the infirmary where she and Popola assessed his injuries. Even with all the mangled up, disfigured android bodies they've repaired over the years, it was nothing compared to watching someone slowly die with each longer breath they took.

Devola was barely able to keep it together as she carefully removed the bloody clothes clinging onto his body. "He's...lost a lot of blood and...and he'll only lose more once we remove this object from his chest. So how are we gonna close this wound up?!"

"..."

"Popola, answer me!"

"I...I don't know..."

Popola felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see 21B. "I'll tell you how. I'm very knowledgeable about human medical procedures and for him, we'll need to act quickly."

* * *

Kairi, Riku and Naminé were sitting on the beach together, watching Pascal and the machine children play along the shore.

"I still feel bad that we couldn't find a way for Pascal and the children to go back to Earth. As much of a hellhole that place is, it is their home after all," Kairi said.

"We really need to get you to therapy Kairi," Naminé said. "But in the meantime, I know what'll get your mind off of things!" She showed them her sketch of the machines on the beachside captured in perfect detail. "Okay, so tell me what do you two think of this one? You can be honest, it is kind of a rough sketch."

Kairi gave her one of those 'you-can't-be serious' looks. "Rough sketch? Come on, that's like a work of art Naminé."

"Yeah, you're a natural at this art stuff," Riku said.

"Aw, you guys are seriously making me blush! Alright, I'm gonna show this to Pascal and the kids, I hope they like it!"

As she walked away, Kairi stared at the thick bandages that wrapped around her leg. "How does she do it? To walk forward like that despite what the machines did to her?"

"Probably because she already knows how it feels like to be the bad guy."

"Heh, well, now I know how that feels too. Can... I tell you something, Riku?"

"Sure, anything."

"I ...I never stopped thinking about what Adam said to us. I killed so many machines that had friends and family like Pascal...and I think about it all the time. Am I a bad person, Riku?"

"No, no of course not. You're not bad, even if you did go a little overboard, you were just doing what needed to be done so you could protect everyone. The only one who's bad here is Adam for forcing everyone to fight the machines in the first place."

There was something so comforting about his voice and the intensity of his eyes when he looked at her that it put her heart at ease, even if only for a moment.

"Hey, think of it this way. At least now with most of the machines here on our side, it'll make things easier for Sora."

"I wouldn't know, he hasn't returned any of my calls in  _days._ "

"Nah, knowing him, I bet he's just wrapped up with whatever the androids dragged him into."

"I know- I know, but you'd think my own boyfriend would return a call once in a while."

Riku shrugged. "Maybe he finally got tempted by one of those android girls."

"That's not funny you jerk! This is serious, I'm worried about Sora, what if something bad happened to him?! I'm giving him another call..."

*ring

*ring

_"Please ...stop this. You can do whatever you want to me, but I won't fight them..."_

_"What's wrong? I thought you said nothing that's worth having comes without a fight, right? So fight and prove you want to keep living."_

Sora woke up to the sound of his gummiphone ringing. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the blue sky and for a second, he imagined he was finally at home. After all, no matter how many worlds he went to, they always shared the same sky, but after adjusting his head on the infirmary cot, he realized he was at the Resistance Camp.

' _Wonder how I got here? I'll figure that out later, I better see who's calling me first.'_ He reached for his gummiphone and saw Kairi's name across the screen. His first instinct was to answer, but he stopped himself from touching the screen. "No, I can't...I'm sorry. I really wanna talk to you, but not when I'm like this." He said in a quiet voice.

After Sora put his gummiphone away, his eyes drew downward to see A2 sleeping at his bedside with several empty bottles of liquor surrounding her. ' _She looks so peaceful when she's asleep, I hate to wake her but I have to know what's going on.'_

"A2? Hey A2!"

"...Mm?" Letting out a soft groan, she lifted her head. "Oh...hey."

It took a second for A2 to register that Sora was awake and once she did, she couldn't stop smiling at him. "Sora! Damn it...don't you ever scare me like that again! Er- uh, took you long enough..." She quickly cleaned herself up, brushing the messy hair out of her face and pushing away the liquor bottles to hide the fact how much of a mess she became.

"I'm sorry...I should've been on top of things." When Sora tried to get up, he felt a sharp, stabbing pain across his chest. "Ahh! That really hurts..."

"Hey, take it easy, you've been out for a few days."

"A few DAYS?! So much time has passed...I need to heal myself up and get out of here!"

"And go where?"

Sora's hands tightened into a fist. "I need to find whoever did this to me... those machines who looked like my friends. I know they're still out there and they're gonna do something terrible if I don't stop them!"

A2 slammed her hand on the infirmary cot. "Sit your ass down! You almost fucking died Sora! You were bleeding out so much..." Her voice was breaking. "... I really thought I was gonna lose you this time."

"...A2?"

"Don't say anything... just listen to me. Stop putting yourself in danger and stop...stop trying to save us. Saving this world isn't worth dying for so whatever the machines are planning, don't get involved. Promise me that, Sora."

Her eyes finally met with Sora's but he looked more annoyed than anything. "I'm not just some human who always has to be protected, you know that, so let me do this!"

And now A2 was pissed. "Okay... I guess giving a shit about my friend is too 'android' for you."

"No, I'm sorry, that came out wrong... I know you don't wanna lose me, but I can't lose you either! I'm never going to turn my back on you guys so not getting involved isn't an option. I have to stop them before they hurt any more people than they already have!"

A2 glared at Sora for the longest time, trying to figure out his thought process, before shaking her head in defeat. "...God, you're such a stubborn dumbass. Fine, when you're up on your feet, we can go see what that Tower's all about...just promise you won't die on me."

Sora held his hand out to her, grinning. "Only if you promise me you won't die either!"

She shook his hand. "Kind of hard not to when you're around."

*grrrrrrrowl

"Uh, sorry about that," Sora mumbled.

"That sound...you're hungry, right? Why don't I fix you something up?"

"Seriously? Last time you said cooking was boring ..."

"Then starve for all I care!"

"H-Hold on! I just didn't expect you to do something that nice for me...thank you."

"Give me a break, all I've been doing is nice things for you!"

"...Yeah to make up for all the times you've been a jerk..." He said under his breath.

"I heard that you little shitstain! This is exactly why I don't do anything nice for you!"

"That was a joke...mostly."

"一Sora!"

The twins came running into the infirmary with baskets full of medical supplies in their hands.

"Oh my god, you're finally up," Devola said.

"Thank goodness, I'm so happy you're awake!" Popola smiled at A2. "And thanks for looking after him, we got everything we needed."

"No problem. I'm gonna go hunting in the Forest, later."

She returned her attention back to Sora. "Sorry we were away, we had to restock on more supplies. Now let's replace your bandages. Dev, can you get that medicine started?"

"Coming right up."

"Uh, you don't have to do that."

"Of course I do, Sora. Just relax." With delicate hands, Popola slowly removed the bloody bandages across Sora's chest, revealing a long line of stitches where he suffered from the wound. It was a scary sight for him to see since he never really had to worry about sustaining serious injuries with his magic to always back him up.

Popola was in the middle of cleaning up the dried blood when she noticed his heart was pounding on his chest. "You okay?"

"Not really...I mean, it's not like I haven't been impaled before, but ...was I really about to die from something like this?"

"Jeez, you say that like getting impaled is your hobby. While we have worked on you before, it was nothing so severe that it required us to close the wound, it was new territory for us."

"Yeah, we were learning how to stitch your body together  _as_  we were doing it!" Devola said, walking over with a mortar and pestle in her hands.

"Ugh, maybe leave that part out. Anyways, if we didn't, well, the amount of blood you would've lost..."

Devola smirked at him. "We'd probably be preserving your organs right about now."

" _Devola_! You're the worst! Ever heard of too soon?!"

"Lighten up, sis, I'm just messing with him." Adding in a liquid ingredient into the mortar, Devola poured the solution into a vial then handed it to her sister. "We were afraid of you getting an infection so that medicine should help you out." She elaborated.

"I can't thank you enough... you guys saved me," Sora said.

"It's the least we can do, besides, it was mostly 21B. She was a lifesaver, she told us every medical procedure we needed to do," Popola said.

"Who's 21B?"

"All we know is that she used to be 9S's operator. Hopefully, they're all coming back soon to see you're okay, 2B and 9S were so worried," Popola said.

"...Wait, so where are they now?"

"At whatever a 'Resource Recovery Unit' is last I heard so they can get inside that big white tower. Something about stopping the machines, you know the deal by now."

All of a sudden, a loud, fiery explosion erupted within the camp, as if to sound the arrival of the invading machines. Anemone immediately readied for battle and rallied the rest of the androids to fight back.

Devola pulled her sword out. "Damn it! Popola, get Sora somewhere safe!"

"No, this is my fight! You guys are the ones that need to get out of here!" Sora jumped out of the infirmary cot with his keyblade in hand.

After casting Regen on himself, Sora ran into the fray of machines with Oathkeeper. However, it seemed like with every couple of machines he defeated, several more would parachute down from the sky in its place.

He shot a thunder spell at a cluster of incoming machines just for more to arrive. "Gah- what's up with all these machines?"

"S...O...R...A."

"S...O...R...A."

"S...A...V...E...U...S."

The machines chanted, but their hollow words were just that, words, and it wouldn't stop him from ending them.

"Save you?! You're the ones who are attacking us!" Sora guarded an incoming attack then powered up into Double Form, which spelled the end for the machine raid because even their overwhelming numbers couldn't keep up with how fast his keyblade ripped them apart. While the machines were now nothing more than scrap metal cluttering the campgrounds, his feelings remained unchanged.

"That's it...they're not gonna stop hurting everyone until they have me." Sora squeezed the keyblade handle. "So I'll give them what they want!"

He made his escape out of the camp and into the City Ruins. ' _Everyone keeps bringing up that tower, it has to be the machine's headquarters or something. I'm sorry A2, but I'm not letting any more of my friends get hurt because of me. I have to take it down by myself!'_

Fortunately, the Tower wasn't hard to miss, he didn't have to run around the city for long until he came across the ivory white structure. Although, it wouldn't be easy to get through with the hordes of machines swarming around the Tower's base.

"Here we go." Switching out Oathkeeper for Weight of the World, he dove in headfirst, ready to bash in machine heads, but rather than fight back, they all kneeled down in response to his presence. "Huh...What's going on?"

The machines started chanting his name.

"SO-RA!"

"SO-RA!

"SO-RA!"

?-?-?: Hello, and thank you for choosing Tower System Services! We welcome you with open arms!

?-?-?: Please enter inside the Tower and enjoy the special prize waiting just for you. We look forward to you serving us!

The ocean of machines divided in half, creating a clear path leading to the Tower.

"OUR MESSIAH WALKS BEFORE US AND GRACES US WITH HIS PRESENCE!"

"YOU WILL SAVE US!"

"YOU WILL BRING US TO THE PROMISED LAND OF OUR GODS!"

Walking forward, Sora kept his guard up around the machines, thinking it'd only be a matter of time before they started attacking him again. "Now this is getting super weird...I bet this is all just a bunch of mumbo jumbo to try and mess with my head." He was halfway towards the Tower, when the machine's eyes went from its docile yellow color to bloodshot red.

However, the machines actually went away from him, because their targets were the two androids chasing after Sora; Devola and Popola.

"Oh no, Devola, Popola! I'm coming!"

Much to his surprise, Popola threw herself at the machines and was cutting them down left and right like a battle android. Devola wasn't too far behind her either. Ultimately, the machines were no match for Devola and Popola because as they saw it, if they lost, it would mean failing humanity twice, a burden they couldn't bear.

With the machines out of the way, Popola stomped over to Sora, somehow looking more pissed at him than she did the machines.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" She yelled.

"What're you talking about?! I have to take this Tower down!"

"You don't  _have_  to do anything! This is OUR burden to bear and you're not going to die for something you didn't start!"

"I could say the same thing! The machines want me, not you guys! Let me finish them off myself, they're no match for me!"

"You don't know that! Maybe they want you or maybe they want something  _out_  of you! Please...if you're going to walk right into the machine's stronghold then at least let us accompany you.

"What the- speak for yourself! I vote we all go back to the camp instead of walking into the obvious trap," Devola said.

"No, I'm not running away!" Sora said.

"...Alright then. I guess putting our lives in danger is a lot less boring than running the shop." She crossed her arms. "So how are we gonna get the Tower open anyway, looks like it's hacking locked."

Sora smiled at her, waving his keyblade around. "Watch this!" He ran to the entrance and despite the hundreds of years of technological development that went into the Tower, it unlocked just like any old door by his keyblade.

"Wow, so it's a sword with the properties of a key," Popola said with a laugh.

"Yeah, that's a good way to put it..." But as Sora was about to step inside, he felt an eerie sensation that made him pause. "Something's up. It has to be the heartless!" He turned around and his suspicions were correct because multiple shadows were possessing the empty machine husks left after the battle.

Gripping his keyblade, Sora pursued the heartless-machine abomination, however, when he swung his keyblade at it, the heartless split into two. One of them continued fighting with Sora to keep him engaged while the other slithered away, hunting down Devola and Popola like a predator to prey. He tried to go after the second heartless, but it was fast-moving so he shot a Thundaga spell at it, hoping it would be enough to destroy it.

It wasn't.

"A̸̟̔Ḁ̸̿Ā̶̟Ă̴̢A̸͖̾A̵̱̔A̶̗͝A̴̹̒Ḁ̶͆A̴̼͒A̵͈͋H̷̩̉A̶͔͌H̷̘̐Ả̴͉H̴͔́a̸̛̠ḧ̷̭́H̸̳͐H̶̨̋H̸̜͌Ä̵͚H̵͙̃Â̷̝H̵̞̎A̶̩̒H̷̳͛A̷̼̚Ḧ̷̰́Ḁ̸̛H̷̰͒a̵̝͝Ạ̷̾H̴̘̉Ä̸̺́H̷̖͐A̸̩͝Á̵̪H̷̠͝Ả̴̞"

The heartless revealed the multiple EMP machines running along its back like a set of spines that absorbed most of his attack.

At that point, Popola charged at the heartless herself and all Devola could see was her sister's death play out over and over again in her head. So without giving as much as a second thought to her actions, she dove in front of Popola and got impaled through the chest by a mass of black tendrils.

"DEVOLA!" Popola clung onto her sister who was bleeding out.

"You...okay, sis?"

"Devola...no...no- I can't do this without you! You can't leave me!" She sobbed. "That's what we promised, that we wouldn't survive alone! That's why we're twins, that's why you're my sister!"

"I know...I was being selfish. I'm sorry." Devola reached her hand out to wipe away Popola's tears. "...I'm sorry."

All Popola focused on was her sister, because she was her world. She didn't care that the heartless was slowly closing in on her, snaking its cold tendrils around her body. She didn't care whether she lived or died anymore. She didn't care. She didn't care. She didn't care. She didn't—

"Popola!" Sora slashed through the black tendrils and the heartless recoiled back in pain. He transformed Weight of the World into Ex-Machina, launching both of the machine arms at it while it was still down.

When his machine arms returned to him, the heartless was ready to attack again. The EMP machines in its body began charging up until the heartless fired a ball of electricity at him that he ended up blocking. While not the best strategy to use the metal machine arms as a shield against an electrical attack, it was a calculated move to unlock his final keyblade transformation for Weight of the World; Virtuous Oath.

His keyblade adopted the appearance of 2B and 9S's own signature samurai swords from where it got its namesake. With a new transformation also came a speed boost and in a matter of seconds, the heartless's 'head' was lying on the ground.

Now that both of the heartless were gone, Sora cast Curaga on Devola, but she still remained unresponsive.

"I'm so sorry Popola...this is all my fault. Is she gonna be okay at least?"

"She has to...I...I can't live without her. Listen to me Sora, whatever you do from here on out, please be safe. There's too many people who love you not to come back home to them, okay?" She picked up Devola, holding her close in her arms. "So...don't keep us waiting."

While Popola was leaving, Sora was staring down the Tower.

"Let's do this."

The stark white, geometrical design of the Tower bore a striking resemblance to the Copied City, all the way down to the empty, foreboding atmosphere that reminded Sora of just how lonely he would be traversing by himself. ' _It won't be the same without A2 screaming at me about something, but I have to do this for her and all of the androids. I'm who the machines want.'_

Untethering himself from the fear holding him back, he ran out of the lobby and into the winding staircase that led into a tall, white church tower.

"Whoa, this place is a lot bigger than I imagined!" There was a vast abyss of nothingness that stretched out for seemingly forever. ' _Wonder how far someone would have to fall just to reach the bottom?'_ A question he nearly found out the answer to when a large body heartless slammed him from behind and he flew off the staircase.

Luckily, Sora was quick to run up the side of the wall and hit the large body with a Fira spell. Several more heartless crawled out from the darkness in retaliation, their black bodies that popped out against the white ground made it easy for Sora to target and they went down as fast as they came into existence.

"Gotta try harder than that to catch me off guard!"

?-?-?: We are sorry to hear your disapproval of the Tower System Services! Hopefully, the room just ahead will contain a setting far more to your liking!

' _I really hate the voice, but if it's just gonna be more heartless than I shouldn't have anything to worry about.'_  He continued forward, defeating more heartless along the way, then made it to the doors of the church tower. What was inside, however, wasn't at all what he expected to find. In fact, it was far worse.

**D̷͖̈ E̷̘͊ S̸̻̄ T̷̞̉ I̷̙̔ N̷̢̍ Y̸̨͑ ̴̡̈Ĭ̵͜ S̷̤̑ L̵͇͒ Ǎ̵͖ N̸̥͌ D̸̯̈́ S̷̘̆**

Inside the church tower was a data recreation of Destiny Islands, the one place he could only dream about seeing again and now he was walking along the sandy shores as if he never left. "...This is so wrong. None of this is real...how do they even know about this place?"

"But this is what you want, isn't it?"

Turning around, he saw not just Riku and Kairi, but the rest of the Guardians of Light, just standing there and smiling at him.

"You're home," 'Kairi' said, offering her hand to him.

"You...you know about the others too?"

"Pretty good recreations, right? Believe me, it took quite the extraction of data to orchestrate all of this, but it was well worth it." 'Kairi' walked closer to him and he felt his world spinning around on itself. "Are those humans what you've been trying to hide from us? If so, what a wonderfully kept secret."

"Nice try, but I'm not letting you get under my skin! I'm finding a way out of here!"

'Kairi' pulled out a machine sword and the rest of the Guardians of Light followed suit, each of them wielding weapons ranging from machine axes to spears.

"Not so fast. You're not getting out of this." 'Kairi' rushed in on Sora first so he had no choice but to lock swords with her. While they were engaged in combat, she gave him the most sinister-looking smile that genuinely sent chills down his spine. _'Don't freak out Sora. It's just a machine. It's just a machine. It's just a machine.'_

Sora pushed her off, then tried to run away, but 'Roxas' and 'Xion' were hot on his trail with that same look on their faces. He ended up being cornered by 'Lea' who swung his axe down on him. While he managed to roll out of the way before having his head cleaved off, he had to cast a split second Reflect on himself to protect against a flurry of keyblade attacks from 'Roxas'.

Once he broke away from the three of them, he ran towards the ocean water, avoiding flying spears from 'Ventus' and 'Terra on his way. "If I'm so important then why do you keep trying to kill me?!"

"You won't die, but sooner or later, you'll fight back and I'd pick up the pace if I were you if you don't want to lose an arm," 'Riku' said.

Sora felt a hand grasp tightly at the back of his head. It was 'Aqua', who somehow got behind him undetected. Acting solely on fighting reflexes, he grabbed Aqua's arm and twisted it towards her back. He didn't intend to break her arm, but it snapped off like a tree branch anyways, revealing all the wires and machinery her actual body was composed of.

Despite the reality of 'Aqua's' severed arm being a machine one, it all felt so real to him, and at that point, he completely lost it.

"Ah...AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

His own screaming was the last thing he remembered because everything else that happened after that was a blur. All that remained were destroyed machine bodies scattered across an empty church tower. Destroyed machine bodies that looked like his friends.

Sora fell down to his knees, wrapping his arms around his head.

.

.

.

—

A2 was crouched down behind an overgrowth of bushes where she patiently waited for that sweet moment when the moose would be calmly drinking out of the pool of water. Wholly unaware it would become a plate of barbecued meat soon if she had her way.

Pod 713: 'Moose' target locked. Proposal: Proceed in a stealthy manner as not to alert the animal.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it."

Pod 713: Only one affirmation is necessary.

She muttered something under her breath, then proceeded to aim her sniper at the moose's head. The moose must've smelled her blood lust from her position because the moment she pulled the trigger, the moose lifted its head so fast, the bullet only ended up scraping its chin. Worst of all, the moose was now staring directly at her just to rub it in.

"Shit!" Disregarding all notions of stealth, she began shooting multiple rounds at the moose, none of which hit its target. "Now I'm getting pissed off!"

Pod 713: Proposal: Return this pod to its initial form in order to allow for more precise marksmanship.

"What, are you saying I'm a bad shot?"

Pod 713: Affirmative.

"Or you're just a shitty gun." A2 went out into the forest clearing to relocate the moose, but it appeared to be long gone. "Damn, so much for that." She made the mistake of letting her guard down only for the same moose to ram its antlers into her, then it  _finally_  ran off before she got a chance to shoot back at it.

For the longest time, A2 wouldn't get up from the ground out of shame that she got bested by a moose of all things.

Pod 713: Warning: 'Moose' lifeform detected. Evacuate the premise.

"That's it!" She stood up, then snatched her pod. "Your goddamn code's gonna be rearranged when I'm through with you!"

Pod 713: Please refrain from physical acts of violence against this pod.

She threw it back in the air. "...You're lucky you got decent combat abilities or I would've canned you by now."

"—A2! Heeeey!" She searched the area to locate the voice, but Emil basically teleported right in front of her with how fast he moved.

"Huh- don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Haha, sorry! I didn't mention it before because you were threatening me with my life, but cool outfit by the way. It reminds me of when times were simpler..."

"Let's cut to the chase, what do you want from me this time?"

"Actually, I just saw Sora running around the City Ruins earlier and figured something was wrong since he was by himself."

"That stupid, idiot kid..."

She made her way out of the Forest and into the City Ruins, knowing exactly where he was headed towards. "...I got trampled over by a goddamn  _moose_  for him and he leaves anyway?! I guess everything he said in the camp was just bullshit!"

A2 slid to a stop when she spotted the Tower in the distance. "There it is." She descended to the base where she ran into 2B and 9S.

"You guys are here too, huh."

"Anemone sent us a distress call," 2B said. "I know we may not all exactly be on the best terms, but we need to work together in order to save Sora, so let's put aside our differences for his sake."

"Says the android who almost killed me."

"Likewise, but we can either do this fighting or working together. Your call."

"Tch, fine, let's not waste any more time than we already have."

The androids went inside the Tower, entering into an enclosed lobby area that functioned as an elevator. While they waited to reach the next level, 2B filled in A2 on more of the details surrounding Anemone's distress call.

"Machines attacked the camp as well and apparently they were shouting Sora's name," 2B said.

"Sounds like bait to get him to the Tower," A2 said, she leaned back on the wall. "So how did everyone hold up, were there any casualties?"

"Unfortunately there were. Devola's in critical condition, along with a few other Resistance androids."

"Devola..." She shook her head. "I shouldn't have left them alone at the camp."

"I think there's some hope left, 21B went over to help out and she's good at what she does. Glad to have her around again," 9S said.

The lobby door opened up to the new level where they were met with a winding staircase that extended in an endless void. At the end waited an ominous church tower.

"Whoa, look at this place, it's a technological feat," 9S said.

"Yeah, it's also made by machines," A2 said. "What's the purpose of this structure anyway?"

Pod 713: Unknown. Proposal: gather additional data.

"Could you get any more useless?"

"From what I know, this Tower is a cannon and it's aimed somewhere in space," 2B said.

"What do you mean by 'somewhere'?"

"That the location's 'to be determined'."

"Hey guys...I think we're being followed, I just saw something move," 9S said.

A2 and 2B turned around to check, but they saw nothing behind them.

"You're probably just anxious," 2B said.

"I guess you're right...so, what're we gonna do about the heartless with Sora being gone and everything?"

"If we can't escape in time, we'll die a slow, painful death."

"You sure are a joy to be around," A2 said.

"Ah- w-well I'm sure we'll run into Sora before that happens," 9S said, trying to lighten the mood.

They continued their ascent upstairs, eventually passing through the church tower. Even though it was empty, 9S swore he saw the shadows move.

"Okay, that time I definitely saw something!"

A2 and 2B did another surveillance within the church, once again finding nothing of interest so they continued their trek up the fragmented stairs.

"You need to calm the hell down and stop wasting time, Scanner," A2 said.

"I'm sorry...these heartless are just really freaking me out!"

"Why don't you think about something else other than impending death," 2B said.

"You make it sound easy, but...okay. So, uh, A2, why  _did_  you leave the camp? Could've avoided a lot of trouble if you didn't."

"I wouldn't have left if I thought he would go behind my back like that."

"I'm sure it was just Sora wanting to protect us."

"I know, that's the problem. What if ... I wanted to do the same for him?"

"Of course you do, you're an android and Sora acting unpredictably is to be expected, he's a human," 2B said.

"I don't care if he's a human. He's supposed to be my friend first, he shouldn't have to always put everything on himself!"

"He probably felt like he had to with the heartless being around," 9S said.

"If you don't shut up about the heartless already! Look, we're almost at the end of this shit..."

When the stairs ran out, they found themselves walking into an arched hallway where a doorway awaited for them. Inside the next room was, unexpectedly, a library. It was as bleach white and barren as the rest of the Tower, but it at least offered a change of scenery from staring out into vacant space.

"Whoa...this place is so cool!" 9S exclaimed, running out to one of the bookcases.

"What is this place?" A2 asked.

Pod 713: Hypothesis: It is a representation of a library.

A2 and 2B exchanged the same confused glances.

"What's that?"

Pod 713: A library is a data-storage facility constructed by past human civilization.

"That sounds inconvenient, but I'm guessing they want us to see whatever data's stored inside," A2 said.

"We'll divy up the work. I'll take the ground level and you can see if there's anything on the top floor."

"You know, I bet that Scanner's already got tons of data, where is he anyway?"

"...Good question. He's likely somewhere on the top floor. I'm sure you'll run into him up there."

"Lucky me." A2 went up the stairs, soon finding a site for data extraction on the bottom shelf of a bookcase. "Great, looks like I'll have to hack into this...and no sign of that Scanner either. Pod, help me out."

Pod 713: Affirmative. Hacking-interface access rights granted to YoRHa unit A2.

"Let's get this over with."

HACKING COMPLETE

Archive obtained:

00-77 KNOWN LOCATIONS OF HUMAN OCCUPANCY [INCOMPLETE] [FURTHER INPUT REQUIRED]

[SMALL ISLAND + TOWN- - - - - - - - - -COORDINATES CONFIRMED] [MX-89321989]

[CASTLE + TOWN- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -COORDINATES CONFIRMED] [FF-X 702178]

[TOWN WITH SETTING SUN- - - - - - - - COORDINATES CONFIRMED] [NO I-X 3123214]

[FOREST WITH TOWER- - - - - - - - - - - COORDINATES UNCONFIRMED] [ADDITIONAL DATA REQUIRED]

[LARGE CASTLE IN SNOW- - - - - - - - - -COORDINATES UNCONFIRMED] [ADDITIONAL DATA REQUIRED]

[FURTHER DATA INACCESSIBLE]

"...This doesn't make any sense. What the hell is a 'town'?"

Pod 713: A 'town' is a developed area of human settlement.

"This must be an old archive then, but why would they access something like this now? I should check up on 2B to see if she has anything." But when she went down to the lower level, 2B was gone.

"What- don't tell me she ran off too!"

Suddenly, one of the chandeliers from the ceiling collapsed right in front of A2, shattering upon impact. As she blocked the resulting debris with her forearms she heard a voice screaming at her.

"—A2! GET OUT OF HERE!"

"That was the Scanner!" A2 whipped her head around until spotting a giant heartless crawling across the ceiling with both 2B and 9S merged within its body. The heartless grinned at her with its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth then lunged at her.

"Shit!" Running back to the top floor so she could at least get some higher ground wasn't an option either because the heartless stretched out its claws around her, preventing escape from its clutches. She watched as it pried its mouth open, showcasing the endless dark pit that awaited her.

"If this is how it ends, I won't go out without a fight!"

**NieR: [O]blivion**

**The Death of The Curse**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone's doing okay during this shitstorm!
> 
> Anyways, I'm going to be doing a thing for the last chapter. If you want, you can give me a comment/quote/phrase/dialogue/whatever type of writing that has important meaning to you and I'll incorporate it in the last chapter. Won't be accepting any memes though, no clownery here


	34. Definitely not a parody of the office that I decided to post for april fool's day

**The Bunker Inc.**

 

Commander White was in the middle of filing paperwork when a scanner type android burst into her office.

 

She raised from her seat. “What the hell do you...hold on, are you the documentary ‘crew’ that was scheduled to come 3 hours ago?!”

 

“Yeah sorry, the traffic was pretty bad, but my pod’s already recording so whenever you’re ready. Why don’t you start off by telling me a little bit about your workplace?”   
  
“The Bunker is a tech company that manufactures android products for human consumption. We’re an android only company since humans tend to fuck everything up but…” Clasping her hands together, she walked around her office.  “As per the diversity and inclusion program we had to enact, we’re actually welcoming our first human today. So it’s a very exciting time for this- aaand speak of the devil, there he is!”

  
She motioned for the scanner android to follow and walked out to the floor to greet the new employee. 

 

Clammy hands brushed through short brown hair. “Alright, let’s do this.” Jim Halpert was your typical, twenty-something American guy with typical twenty-something American guy problems. In other words, there was nothing that really stood out about him, but that fact soon changed the moment he went through the automatic doors of the mega-corporation headquarters aptly named ‘The Bunker’. 

 

Almost immediately Pod 042 shoved a camcorder in his face and in the most robotic voice possible said, “Identify yourself.”

 

“I’m Jim Halpert...the new hire for The Bunker.”

 

“Running...Running. Error: No matches found for ‘I’m Jim Halpert...the new hire for The Bunker’, initiating immediate eradication of unknown entity.” 

 

Commander White pushed the pod out of the way and offered her hand to Jim. “Sorry about the intrusion, I’m your sales manager, Commander White.”   
  
“Should I just call you ‘Boss White’?” He asked with a laugh    
  
“I already like your attitude Mr. Halpert!” Commander White said as she crushed his hand, she then directed her attention to the rest of the androids. “Okay team, this is the new human hire apart of our diversity and inclusion program, Mr. Halpert. I expect you all to treat him as one of our own.”

 

However, he was met with hardcore stares from his fellow android co-workers, complete utter silence, like he was a goddamn circus attraction until one android with long, stringy hair decided to make a comment.

 

“Yeah, a white guy sure is pushing the limits of diversity,” The android said with a smirk on her face.

 

“I hired him because he’s a human, A2 and the only one who applied. Look, I don’t want any more comments like that from you. Anyways Mr. Halpert, your desk’s down there. Operators should’ve already gone through expectations from orientation, but if you need anything, ask me or whatever A2 does to keep her ass on the payroll.”

 

一

Commander White: A2’s top sales are literally the only reason why I haven’t fired her drunk ass already. None of my employees are willing to use other methods to get what they want like she does, unfortunately. 

一

 

Jim carried his box of supplies over to his desk, which just happened to be right next to A2. Not exactly how he hoped his first day would go, but he was still pretty amazed by working with androids. “Guess we’ll be working together A2. You know, that’s a pretty typical robot name if you ask me,” He said as he unpacked.

 

“You got the whole office laughing, John.”

 

“-Back off from John, A2.” 2B approached Jim with a stack of papers in hand ready to be copied. “Look, don’t mind her. Most of us would love to get to know more about humans.”  When she turned around to walk to the copy machines and Jim saw how well built she was it pretty much cemented his stay in the company.

一

2B: A2's still recovering from our breakup so she's been bullying all the new hires, although a human's definitely a new one

一

“...Whoa, what’s her name?” Jim asked.

 

“Don’t get your hopes up, simp, she’s emotionally unavailable or whatever the fuck that means.” A2 typed something down in her computer. “Hope you’re not as much of a disappointment as the other androids here.”

 

**Lmao and that’s all I felt like writing, happy April fool’s day, the actual chapter's coming within this week or the next**

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading as always!


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